Hydrogeological and Mining Considerations in the Design of a Pumping Station in a Shaft of a Closed Black Coal Mine

Abstract

In an overwhelming number of cases, the closure of a coal mine in Poland, for safety reasons, requires the installation of a pumping station and systems for the drainage of inflowing water due to its connection via roadways, goaves, or water-leaking pillars with other adjacent active mines. Due to operational costs, stationary pumping stations are being replaced with submersible pumping stations, wherever the geological/mining conditions allow this. The key factors to be considered when designing a submersible pumping station include the estimated water influx and the storage and emergency reservoir fill-up time. If the water level in the emergency reservoir exceeds the level of the maximum ordinate, there is the risk of water flooding an adjacent active mine, which poses a serious safety risk to this mine. A pumping station design must ensure that water can be pumped out also in emergency situations and must ensure permanent control over the level of the water table. The pumped-out water, after potential treatment, can be utilized as technological water in industrial plants. In the designed pumping station, it is also feasible to establish underground pumped-storage hydropower. This would enable the storage of energy from renewable sources, thereby contributing to CO2 emission reduction.