A novel water pollution index for domestic water quality assessment in acid mine drainage-impacted mining areas
File(s)
Supporting information
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
A legacy copper mine in Sto. Niño, Barangay Ambassador, Tublay, Benguet, Philippines, has generating acid mine drainage (AMD), posing environmental and social challenges affecting access to clean water for domestic use in mine-impacted areas. With multiple water sources in the area, classification and prioritization of use, as well as treatment intervention are necessary. This study presents and develops a novel water pollution index (WPI-AMD) designed to assess domestic water quality in AMD-impacted mining areas. The WPI-AMD utilizes a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tool called the weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) approach, integrating both additive and multiplicative functions to overcome shortcomings of existing water quality and pollution indices (WQPI). WPI-AMD includes careful selection, categorization, weighting, normalization, calibration, and aggregation of relevant geochemical parameters. Sampling was conducted in the legacy mine to determine the geochemistry of the identified water sources. The results show that WPI-AMD effectively evaluates AMD-impacted bodies for domestic use, providing more accurate assessment than other WQPI in terms of eclipsing percentage, agreement with expert judgement, and classification accuracy. Thus, WPI-AMD is a promising tool for water resource management in mining-affected areas, facilitating the classification of water bodies according to their suitability for domestic use and in identifying critically polluted water bodies that require intervention. The ability of WPI-AMD to integrate multiple geochemical parameters into a single, easily interpretable score makes it particularly useful for community members, policymakers, and environmental managers in addressing water quality issues in AMD-impacted regions.
Date Issued
2025-12-01
Date Acceptance
2025-08-18
Citation
Minerals Engineering, 2025, 234
ISSN
0892-6875
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
109730
End Page
109730
Journal / Book Title
Minerals Engineering
Volume
234
Copyright Statement
Crown Copyright © 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved. This is the author’s accepted manuscript made available under a CC-BY licence in accordance with Imperial’s Research Publications Open Access policy (www.imperial.ac.uk/oa-policy)
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
109730
Date Publish Online
2025-08-30