USING A WATER BALANCE MODEL FOR HYDRO-RESTORATION OF MINING PITS

This paper presents results of water balance modelling in a catchment where a mining pit left after surface exploitation lies in a deep depression without runoff. The purpose was to determine all major water balance components, including those coming from the terrestrial part of the catchment and a possible supply of deep mining groundwater. The water balance was simulated by WBCM (Water Balance Conceptual Model). The results are used for finding adequate scenarios of pit filling, including the appropriate mixing of water coming from the local catchment and the acid deep mining water with surface water coming from a distant catchment. The paper is focused on the Medard mining pit in the Sokolov region (West Bohemia)