Differentiating dilution and retention processes in mine effluent remediation within a natural wetland on the Zambian Copperbelt |
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| Institution: | 1. Civil Engineering, The Catholic University of America, 630 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, DC 20064, USA;2. DC Water and Sewer Authority, 5000 Overlook Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20032, USA;3. Dynamita, 7 lieu-dit Eoupe, 26110 Nyons, France;1. Natural Products Research Laboratories, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7568, USA;2. Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan;3. Department of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Clinical R&D Graduate School of Medicine Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan;4. Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, Nara 631-8505, Japan;5. Chinese Medicine Research and Development Center, China Medical University and Hospital, Taichung 401, Taiwan;1. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos de la Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral, Argentina;2. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA), CCT-La Plata-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Diag 113 y 64, La Plata, Argentina;3. Departamento de Química, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Campus Universitario, Río Cuarto, Argentina;1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30071 Murcia, Spain;2. Faculty of Physics, Tomsk State University, 36, Lenin Ave., 634050 Tomsk, Russia;1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 18 Shuang-qing Road, Beijing 100085, China;2. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China |
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| Abstract: | The use of wetlands to treat mine effluent has grown in popularity over the past two decades, although the processes by which the natural systems function are often poorly understood. This field-scale investigation utilises daily data over a 9-month period in assessing the processes leading to the remediation of mine effluent within a natural wetland on the Zambian Copperbelt. The study differentiates effluent remediation through dilution from pollutant retention. Decreased wetland outflow concentrations of SO4 and Na are due to dilution only, while Co (50%) and especially Cu (83%) are retained within the wetland. Retention was linked to adsorption onto new or primed surfaces during an initial period of effluent release into the system and to processes related to pH buffering to 7.5. The wetland’s acid buffering capacity was largely the result of carbonate-rich groundwater discharge into the wetland. Although this buffering capacity likely shows little seasonal fluctuation (20–80 kmol/day), the impact of acidic effluent input on the wetland itself probably varies markedly between seasons, owing to the temporal and spatial characteristics of discharge from the catchment’s aquifers. Assessment of other natural wetlands in the region indicated that some (circa 15%) showed similar catchment size, hydrochemical and hydrogeological characteristics as those of the New Dam wetland, likely demonstrating a similar effluent remediation potential as that described here. |
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