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55 <br /> SUGGESTIONS FOR WATER MAINTENANCE <br /> For mining operations, the maintenance of water is <br /> fairly straightforward. Most of the obnoxious constituents <br /> can be precipitated from the water by raising the pH. This <br /> is the primary method of treatment which is suggested for <br /> metal mining operations by the EPA (1). The next step in <br /> most operations is the removal of suspended solids by settling. <br /> These two processes are already well developed and only minor <br /> suggestions are made in this chapter for treatment of process <br /> water. Because of this good background of process method, <br /> this chapter stresses using the understanding of water <br /> chemistry to decide what water to process. Many mines are <br />• located in areas where the construction of extensive treat- <br /> ment ponds is difficult and expensive. Also, the indiscriminant <br /> addition of lime to all the water effluents can be costly. <br /> Some waters don't have to be treated and other waters can <br /> become much more obnoxious if they accumulate in the wrong <br />areas. Knowledge of the water chemistry should allow the <br />separation of good water from bad and this can help con- <br />siderably in reducing the amount of effort involved in water <br />treatment. <br />The general suggestions which will be developed are: <br />1. Try to stop conduit aquifers from penetrating a <br />mine by sealing the surface sources. <br />2. Separate conduit aquifer water from diffuse aquifer <br />. water since typically the conduit water does not