Reliable Trade-offs Between Environment and Economy: Implications for Mine Dewatering and Managed Aquifer Recharge
Published in Mine Water and the Environment, 2025
The relationship between environmental and economic drivers in mine dewatering is complex, with many competing interests. Traditionally, numerical groundwater models have been used to assess the efficacy of dewatering designs, both with respect to the expected dewatering rates and to estimate the potential effects on sensitive groundwater receptors. However, the outputs of interest from the groundwater models depend on uncertain model inputs, which means these outputs are also subject to uncertainty. Herein, we quantitatively explore the tradeoff between dewatering costs and environmental effects within the framework of reliability-based multi-objective optimization using a synthetic case study designed to mimic many facets of real-world mine dewatering. The framework explicitly considers model input uncertainty and seeks to map the trade-offs between cost, environmental impact, and reliability.
Recommended citation: White, J., Coulon, C., Hugman, R., Markovich, K., 2025. Reliable Trade-offs Between Environment and Economy: Implications for Mine Dewatering and Managed Aquifer Recharge. Mine Water and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-025-01070-z
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