INSTITUTUL NAÅ¢IONAL DE CERCETARE-DEZVOLTARE - ICECHIM

4. Protection and environmental engineering - PSTUDY OF POLLUTION GENERATED BY THE MINING SITES OVER THEWATER QUALITY FROM THE MURES RIVER BASIN, IN HUNEDOARACOUNTYSZOLLOSI-MOŢA Andrei, PRODAN Maria, NĂLBOC Irina, LORAND TothINCD –INSEMEX Petroşani,str. G-ral Vasile Milea, nr. 32-34, Petrosani, HunedoaraThe mining industry on the environment exercise great influence manifested in allphases of technological processes of minerals mining and preparation.Storage ponds tailings resulting from the processing of minerals in preparation plantsare relatively large, sometimes altering fundamentally zone morphology and the content ofpollutants become factors and sources of air pollution - through dust - and water - throughsuspension, flotation reagents and metal ions.The study aimed to determine the concentrations of heavy metals and characterizationin terms of pollution, the main water courses feeding the Mures river, in Hunedoara County.For performing the measurements has been used atomic emission spectrometry withinductively coupled plasma. On-site observations, data collected and analysis of ecosystemtoxic elements (heavy metals) from flowing streams that drain the mine waters in the arealead us to the consideration that industrial branches and especially the mining industry is amajor source of pollution even after decades of closure. Water and sediment samples with thehighest concentrations of heavy metals in river Certej were collected from areas heavilyaffected by acidification activity. At present the concentration of heavy metals in rivers in thearea are above the permissible limits for many metals, some of them overcome ten times themaximum permissible concentration. Due to mining activity in the area, some rivers wereaffected, those waters with a strong acid.