Mine Drainage Treatment
Skelly and Loy is continuously involved with ecosystem restoration of abandoned mine lands and abandoned mine drainage (AMD) abatement. Our experience concentrates on developing watershed solutions by utilizing the results of comprehensive field investigations to design and construct effective passive or active treatment systems. Skelly and Loy's projects range from watershed assessment and conceptual remediation system design to full-scale engineering design and implementation of large-scale AMD treatment systems to retrofitting operating systems with new components to improve their efficiency to developing operations and maintenance (O&M) plans for constructed systems. In developing natural passive systems, Skelly and Loy takes into consideration mine land factors such as site constraints and topography, soil and water pH, soil and water nutrients, and heavy metal and acidity levels. To date, Skelly and Loy has completed remediation system designs incorporating one or more of the following passive technologies: oxic limestone channels (OLC), anoxic limestone drains (ALDs), aerobic wetlands, sulfate-reducing bioreactors (SRBs), infiltration reduction, flushable limestone ponds, limestone leach beds, vertical flow wetlands (VFWs), alkaline addition (surface and subsurface), manganese removal beds, and other hybrid systems. Skelly and Loy is an industry leader in developing innovative technologies used in passive and semi-active treatment including water-powered alkaline addition, water-powered and windmill aeration, passive flushing systems for metals precipitate removal in limestone beds, aluminum resource recovery, and use of materials such as baghouse lime, lime kiln dust (LKD), steel slag, ECOTITE®, and, most recently, ChitoRem® to aid in mine land and water remediation.
