Field assessment of acid mine drainage contamination in surface and ground water

Both sulfate and conductivity are useful indicators of acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination. Unlike pH, they are both extremely sensitive to AMD even where large dilutions have occurred. The advantage of using sulfate to trace AMD is that unlike other ions it is not removed to any great extent by sorption or precipitation processes, being unaffected by fluctuations in pH. These two parameters are also closely associated as would be expected, as conductivity is especially sensitive to sulfate ions. Therefore, as sulfate analysis is difficult in the field, conductivity can be used to predict sulfate concentration in both AMD and contaminated surface waters using regression analysis. Most accurate predictions are achieved by using equations given for specific conductivity ranges or AMD sources. There is also potential to use conductivity to predict approximate concentrations of key metals when the pH of the water is within their respective solubility ranges.