Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026
12:44
Watershed Planning within a Quantitative Scenario Analysis Framework
Published on: July 24, 2016
Integrated framework assessment of water reuse feasibility in mining
João Pedro Machado de Lima1, Sonaly Cristina Rezende Borges de Lima2, Miriam Cristina Santos Amaral2
1Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627, Escola de Engenharia, Bloco 1, 4º Andar, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 31270-010, Brazil. jpedromdl@ufmg.br.
Environmental Geochemistry and Health
|June 2, 2026
Summary
Mining can reuse treated municipal wastewater, a sustainable water source. A new framework assesses feasibility by considering regulations, technical aspects, and economics, guiding water management for reduced freshwater use.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Water Resource Management
- Mining Engineering
Background:
- Growing water scarcity and regulatory pressures necessitate alternative water sources in mining.
- Treated municipal wastewater offers a potential solution, but faces regulatory, technical, and economic hurdles.
- Current assessments often oversimplify feasibility, potentially overlooking critical barriers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an integrated assessment framework for evaluating treated wastewater reuse in mining operations.
- To operationalize regulatory alignment, technical compatibility, and economic viability in a structured manner.
- To introduce a 'veto logic' to prevent critical barriers from being masked by averaged assessments.
Main Methods:
- A tridimensional feasibility space incorporating regulatory, technical, and economic factors.
- Normalized indicators to classify reuse scenarios into four categories: Fully Feasible, Conditionally Feasible, Economically Constrained, and Structurally Unfeasible.
- Proof-of-concept application comparing municipal wastewater reuse with acid mine drainage recycling using real water quality data.
Main Results:
- Feasibility of wastewater reuse is highly context-dependent.
- External municipal wastewater sources can outperform internal recycling due to lower mineralization and greater regulatory stability.
- The proposed framework provides a reproducible tool for assessing water management strategies.
Conclusions:
- The integrated framework offers a robust methodology for resilient water management in the mining sector.
- Facilitates informed decision-making for reducing freshwater abstraction and achieving sustainability goals.
- Highlights the potential of treated municipal wastewater as a viable alternative water source for mining.
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