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Surface Coal
Mining Effects
on Ground Water
Recharge
Committee on Ground Water Recharge in
Surface-Mined Areas
Water Science and Technology Board
Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems
National Research Council
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C., 1990
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by
the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are
drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National
Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the
committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special
competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors,
according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting
of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of
Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit
self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific
and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and
technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority
of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a
mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific
and technical matters. Dr. Frank Press is president of the National
Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the
charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of
outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the
selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences
the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National
Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting
national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the
superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Robert M. White is president of
the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National
Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of
appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to
the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility
given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to
be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to
identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Samuel 0.
Their is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of
Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and
technology with the Academy's purpose of furthering knowledge and advising
the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies
determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating
agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy
of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and
the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered
jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Frank Press
and Dr. Robert M. White are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of
the National Research Council.
Support for this project was provided by the Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement of the U.S. Department of the Interior under
Cooperative Agreement No. HQ51-CT89-32004/C.
Available from
Water Science and Technology Board
National Research Council
2101 Constitution Avenue, N W.
Washington, D.C. 20418
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NO. 90-60773
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER 0-309-04237-2
Printed in the United States of America
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COMMITTEE ON GROUND WATER RECHARGE
IN SURFACE-MINED AREAS
HERMAN BOUWER, U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory,
USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Phoenix,
Arizona, Chairman
ROBERT E. BECK, Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale
CORALE L. BRIERLEY, VistaTech, Salt Lake City, Utah
C. THOMAS HAAN, Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville
ROBERT J. LUXMOORE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
Tennessee
JOHN C. SENCINDIVER, West Virginia University,
Morgantown
JAMES R. WALLIS, IBM Watson Research Center
Yorktown Heights, New York
WILLIAM W. WOESSNER, University of Montana,
Missoula
National Research Council Staff
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Project Manager
WENDY L. MELGIN, Staff Officer (through October
1989)
RENEE A. HAWKINS, Project Secretary
Office of Surface
Enforcement Representatives
MARA DEAN, Hydrologist, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
ALFRED E. WHITEHOUSE, Deputy Assistant Director,
Program and Technical Support, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
iii
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WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BOARD
MICHAEL C. KAVANAUGH, James M. Montgomery
Consulting Engineers, Oakland, California,
Chairman
NORMAN H. BROOKS, California Institute of
Technology
RICHARD A. CONWAY, Union Carbide Corporation, South
Charleston, West Virginia
JAMES P. HEANEY, University of Florida
HOWARD C. KUNREUTHER, University of Pennsylvania
G. RICHARD MARZOLF, Murray State University
ROBERT R. MEGLEN, University of Colorado-Denver
DONALD J. O'CONNOR, HydroQual, Inc., Glen Rock,
New Jersey
BETTY H. OLSON, University of California-Irvine
P. SURESH CHANDRA RAG, University of Florida
PATRICIA L. ROSENFIELD, The Carnegie Corporation of
New York
DONALD D. RUNNELLS, University of Colorado-Boulder
A. DAN TARLOCK, Illinois Institute of Technology,
Chicago Kent College of Law School
HUGO F. THOMAS, Department of Environmental
Protection, Hartford, Connecticut
JAMES R. WALLIS, IBM Watson Research Center,
Yorktown Heights, New York
M. GORDON WOMAN, The Johns Hopkins University
Staff
STEPHEN D. PARKER, Director
SARAH CONNICK, Staff Officer
SHEILA D. DAVID, Senior Staff Officer
CHRIS ELFRING, Senior Staff Officer
WENDY L. MELGIN, Staff Officer (through October
1989)
JEANNE AQUILINO, Administrative Assistant
ANITA A. HALL, Senior Secretary
RENEE A. HAWKINS, Administrative Secretary
iv
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Preface
The availability of coal as a source of energy is
important to our modern style of living and to the
U.S. economy. The production of coal is a complex,
heavy industry that can have many impacts on the
environment, including the hydrologic functions of
the areas in which mining occurs, such as water
quality and rainfall-runoff-ground water recharge
relationships. Currently, approximately 60 percent
of the coal production in the United States is by
_ . .
surface mining.
In order to consider and minimize the potential
negative impacts of surface mining, Congress passed
the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of
1977 (SMCRA; P.L. 95-87), which contains
requirements relative to the hydrologic character
of mined areas. Among these is a requirement that,
in the restoration of the landscape, mining
operators restore the ''recharge capacity" of mined
areas to approximate pre-mining conditions.
Interpretation and the means for implementation of
this requirement are not well understood by the
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and
Enforcement (OSM) of the U.S. Department of the
Interior, which in 1988 asked the National Research
Council's Water Science and Technology Board for
assistance in evaluating existing hydrologic
technology for its usefulness in helping
v
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parties/mining operators to comply with this
requirement.
In response to the request from the OSM, in March
1989 the Water Science and Technology Board formed
a committee of specialists in hydrology, soil
science, water quality, and law to undertake an
assessment of technologies currently used to
evaluate ground water recharge. The scope of the
work for this committee included the following
items:
1. definition of the term "recharge capacity"
technically and in the context of SMCRA and with
regard to the matter of overall local water budget;
2. identification of methods for estimating
ground water recharge in mining areas;
3. a critique of the strengths and weaknesses of
existing approaches with respect to their
hydrologic validity;
4. recommendations for preserving ground water
recharge in comparable terms for pre-mining
"natural" and post-mining "restored" conditions;
5. identification of considerations, such as
data requirements, design standards, mining
methods, landscape, water quality effects,
precipitation, and vegetation factors, that are
relevant to analysis of hydrologic functions of
mined locales;
6. identification of any research required to
strengthen the recommended approach; and
7. recommendations for policy change, if
warranted.
To accomplish its tasks, the committee met four
times to observe mining operations, to examine the
existing state of hydrologic applications in the
mining sector, to review regulatory requirements,
and to write this report. The committee first met
for briefings and to plan its activities in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 6-7, 1989.
Subsequent meetings and field trips were in
V1
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~ ~ ~ ~ -
Lexington and Hazard, Kentucky, on June 19-21,
1989; and in Billings and Decker, Montana, on
September 7-9, 1989. The final meeting was held in
Washington, D.C., on November 20-21, 1989, to
complete this report.
The committee's assignment was difficult owing to
a number of factors, not the least of which is the
paucity of accurate historical data on hydrologic
functions (e.g., precipitation, evapotranspiration,
runoff, ground water recharge) in the often remote
areas in which surface mining occurs. The
committee's focus of attention, "ground water
recharge capacity," also presented the difficulty
of not having an established scientific
definition. Further, there is the aspect that the
impact of mining might be less than the magnitude
of uncertainty associated with the ability to
quantify recharge. Nonetheless, in this report,
the committee makes recommendations that should
allow relevant parties to comply with the spirit of
the SMCRA, i.e., to assure minimum negative
disturbances to the hydrologic system in
surface-mined areas.
This report includes chapters on regulatory
aspects of the issue, the hydrology of ground water
recharge, pre-mining conditions in U.S. coal mining
regions, methods and impacts of mining, and
techniques for quantifying ground water recharge
rates. Although not the major charge of this
committee's report, a discussion of the relevant
water quality issues is included (Chapter 59.
Chapter 7 presents the committee's conclusions and
recommendations. A glossary and technical
appendixes supplement the main text, which was
intentionally kept brief and focused.
. .
V11
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Contents
1 INTRODUCTION
2 LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
The Federal Surface Mining Control and
Reclamation Act of 1977 and "Recharge
Capacity," 7
Kentucky and OSM Roles, 20
Chapter Conclusions, 22
3 HYDROLOGY OF GROUND WATER RECHARGE
Hydrologic Cycle, 24
Occurrence and Movement of
Ground Water, 29
Ground Water Recharge, 34
Fractured Rock Hydrology, 38
4 PRE-MINING CONDITIONS IN COAL MINING
REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES
Eastern Coal Province, 41
Interior Coal Provinces, 49
Gulf Coal Province, 51
Northern Great Plains Coal Province, 52
Rocky Mountain Coal Province, 58
Pacific Coast Coal Province, 59
ix
1
7
41
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5 MINING: METHODS AND IMPACTS
Overview of Surface Mining, Spoil
Handling, and Reclamation, 60
Minesoil Properties, 66
Active Surface Mining Effects
on Recharge, 68 ~
Reclamation Effects on Recharge
and on Water Quality, 73
Control of Adverse Effects of Coal
Surface Mining on Ground Water
Quality, 78
6 QUANTIFYING GROUND WATER RECHARGE
Techniques for Estimating Ground
Water Recharge, 81
Application of Techniques to
Surface Mining Sites, 91
Conclusion, 94
7 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Ground Water Recharge Capacity
Interpreted, 95
Hydrologic Evaluations, 96
Research and Development, 98
REFERENCES
APPENDIXES
A Glossary
B Legal Background
C Other Land Use Change Effects
on Recharge
D Water Quality Issues Associated
with Surface Coal Mining
E Biographical Sketches of
Committee Members
x
60
81
95
101
113
118
137
141
156
