This is a quick and not so dirty compilation of some of the work we have been doing in the recent past to understand the implications of mining on water resources. The overview and examples have been put together to provide an agenda point for discussions for the ICN Water Working Group.
Mining is vast and expansive. It is one of the major industrial activities impacting the availability and quality of water. The impacts of mining on water occur from small scale quarrying to deep underground mining and in the new areas of Coal Bed Methane extraction and proposed Underground Coal Gasification. Our task to capture the impacts of Mining on Water Resources and implications to provision of basic needs of water and sanitation to the local communities is indeed daunting. The impacts are far reaching and the governance processes are yet in a state of denial and are indeed apathetic and at best complacent. Mining and allied industries are major guzzlers of water and biggest destroyers of natural storage capacity and the most important cause for deterioration of water quality. The future of water resources is seriously at stake. Read Report
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