Development of a Decision Support System for Groundwater Pollution Control at Coal-mining Contaminated Sites

Groundwater contamination is one of the major environmental concerns at coal-mining sites. Highly saline or highly acidic water from coal-mining can introduce serious pollution to groundwater and adversely affect its quality. This impact may last a long time even after the mining activity has ceased. Identification of an appropriate remediation technique is critical for effective pollution control. However, due to complexity of considerations involved in the pollution, it is difficult for environmental managers to select optimal techniques. This paper presents a robust decision support system named GCDSS that integrates the functional components of mine characterization, numerical modeling, risk assessment and remediation-technique selection. The results from a case study indicated this system can help improve efficiencies of groundwater pollution control at coal-mining contaminated sites.