Water Resources and Industry 7-8 (2014) 4965

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Water Resources and Industry

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Hydrogeological and groundwater modeling

studies to estimate the groundwater inows into
the coal Mines at different mine development
stages using MODFLOW, Andhra Pradesh, India
L. Surinaidu a,n, V.V.S. Gurunadha Rao a, N. Srinivasa Rao b,
S. Srinu b
a
b

CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad-500 007, India

Singareni Colleries Company Limited, Kothagudem-507 101, India

a r t i c l e in f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 20 December 2013
Received in revised form
27 July 2014
Accepted 7 October 2014

The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) is exploiting coal in

the Godavari valley coal elds spread over 5.33 km2 in Andhra
Pradesh, India. In the area, six workable coal seams have been
identied in Barakar formation by the analysis of the geologic logs
of 183 bore wells. A nite difference based numerical groundwater
ow model is developed with twenty conceptual layers and with a
total thickness of 320 m. The ow model was calibrated under
steady state conditions and predicted groundwater inows into
the mine pits at different mine development stages. The groundwater budget results revealed that the mining area would receive
net groundwater inows of 5877 m3 day
1, 12,818 m3 day
1,
12,910 m3 day
1, 20,428 m3 day
1, 22,617 m3 day
1 and 14,504
m3 day
1 at six mine development stages of 124 m (amsl),
93 m (amsl), 64 m (amsl), 41 m (amsl), 0 m (amsl) and

41 m (amsl), respectively. The results of the study can be used to
plan optimal groundwater pumping and the possible locations to
dewater the groundwater for safe mining at different mine
development stages.
& 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

Keywords:
Open cast mining
Somagudem-Indaram coal belt
Godavari Valley
Barakar formation
Numerical modeling

Correspondence to: CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India.

E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Surinaidu).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wri.2014.10.002
2212-3717/& 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

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L. Surinaidu et al. / Water Resources and Industry 7-8 (2014) 4965

1. Introduction
The construction of an excavation often means penetrating the local or regional groundwater table,
which may cause water inrush into the excavation [37]. If the host rock is signicantly permeable, it
can become a big problem for the excavation operations. Dry working conditions are preferable as
they reduce wear and tear of machinery, reduce earth moving costs that improve the slope stability
and therefore safety can be assured in mining operations. There are number of methods available for
the mine management and they are dewatering, diversion, sealing or a combination of these methods.
In order to identify the most economic and low cost method, it is very essential to identify the source
of groundwater seepage. The successes of dewatering operation depend on the understanding of the
local and regional groundwater regime. This requires estimation of the actual water inows into mine
pits to plan the dewatering operations.
The potential impact of ground water inows to a mine is often evaluated in three phases. The rst
phase involves collection of the hydrology and hydrogeologic information in the area including
geologic structure, aquifer parameters such as hydraulic conductivity of the formation, groundwater
storage and the dimensions of the aquifer to estimate the actual inows [19]. In the second phase
potential impacts and causes of mining operations on groundwater regime are to be carefully
evaluated through regular monitoring of the groundwater levels in the bore wells and collection of
groundwater seepage information into the pits [33]. The estimation of inows coupled with structural
mapping of the geology gives very valuable information to determine and control the volume and
occurrence of groundwater inows. In the third phase, inows can be estimated through dewatering,
computer modeling or through the application of practical experience [19,15].
A computer model can be used to simulate groundwater ows into the mines as the excavation of
the mine enlarges. The regular monitoring of groundwater levels and the amount of groundwater
withdrawal are required to update and to calibrate/validate the model for every stage of the mine
development. Numerical models can be a powerful tool to solve the number of ground water related
problems associated with mining and mine closure. But specic features must be addressed and that
requires a deep understanding of the mining environment [22,33]. Effective dewatering strategies
should be developed to minimize operational cost and to minimize the impact of groundwater
pumping in the mines on groundwater regime in the area.
In recent years, ground water numerical ow modelling has become an important tool for the
mine safety legislation to protect the underground mines from heavy groundwater seepage. Many
researchers successfully utilized numerical models to estimate the groundwater inows into highly
karst aquifer systems [3,25,33], into coal mines [32,38] and into the granitic aquifers [34]. The correct
modelling approach depends on the scale of the modelling application [34].
The present study aims to convert the part of existing Srirampur underground coal mines into
open cast mines with depth up to 311 m that are located in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh state
in India. The study has got major importance due to its huge coal reserves that will have major impact
on energy security of India, in particular of Andhra Pradesh. The increase in depth of exploitation of
coal mines are subjected to water inrush into the mines. For the protection and safe sustainable mine
exploitation needs to understand the groundwater seepage into the mine pits. In the present study
area extensive deep borehole (upto 1000 m depth) drilling engineering methods are deployed and
distributed throughout the area to understand the typical mining sub-surface hydrogeologic setting
for the conversion of under groundwater mining to open cast mining. This has led to deep
understanding of structural geology of the area and more reliable conceptualization of the typical
aquifer system in the groundwater ow model.
The objective of the present study is to estimate the groundwater inows into mine pits at
different mine development stages for optimal groundwater dewatering plans using numerical
groundwater model. This paper describes how the numerical ow model (MODFLOW 2005) can be
applied to solve the issues related to ground water inows into coal mines depending on the different
mine development stages.

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51

2. Location of the study area

Srirampur open cast block covers about 5.5 km2 in Mancherial mandal of the Adilabad district,
Andhra Pradesh (A.P) (Fig. 1). The study area lies between North Latitude of 181490 04 to 181510 12 and
East Longitude of 791290 17 to 791320 02. The area experiences a sub-tropical monsoon climate with a
hot dry summer from March to the mid of June followed by the rainy season up to the mid of October.
The temperature ranges from 30.6 to 48.6 1C during the summer period and the minimum ranges
from 9.1 1C to 29.6 1C during winter season. The average annual rainfall varies from 690 to 1510 mm
with a mean of 1100 mm and the humidity ranges from 38% to 100% during the summer and winter
seasons, respectively.

3. Geology of the study area

The Srirampur Coal eld area is a part of Godavari Valley Coal eld that belongs to the Lower
Gondwana group of rocks. The stratigraphy in the area as reported by [29] is shown in Table 1.
Srirampur Opencast Project area is highly complicated block in whole of the Godavari Valley Coaleld.
No structural features were observed on the surface, because the block is mostly covered by soil/
alluvium deposits. Therefore, the geological structure/stratigraphy of the block has been deciphered
mainly based on the sub-surface data from boreholes drilled upto 1000 m in this block. In some parts
of the Godavari Valley coaleld, the nature of depositional pattern causes rolling in the attitude of

Legend

Roads
Mine
Mi
Canals
Streams

Villages
Tanks

Cross section

Fig. 1. Location map of the Srirampur OCP-II area in the Adialabad district, SCCL, A.P.

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Table1
Stratigraphic succession of Srirampur OCP-II and IIa inclines block.
Age

Recent
Permian

Group

Formation General lithology

Lower
gondwana

Barren
measures
Barakar
Talchir

Maximum
thickness (m)

Soil cover
Medium to very coarse grained gray/greenish ferruginous sandstone
with subordinate clays/sandy shales
Predominantly grey/white medium to coarse grained sandstone
with coal seams/shale and clays
Fine to medium grained greenish sandstones, silt stones, clays and
pebbles beds

5.00
140.77
250.00
35.64

Unconformity
Proterozoic

Sullavai

Red and white banded ne grained sandstone and quartzites.

Raniganj Formation
Barren measure Formation
Barakar Formation
Talchir Formation
Sullavai Formation
Fault
Coa Seams

Fig. 2. Geological cross sections of the bore holes along the cross section of AB and CD in the Srirampum OCP-II in the Adilabad
district, A.P.

beds that otherwise could be attributed to faulting as the surface exposures were very scanty. Initially
43 boreholes were drilled in the area by Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL). In view of
its intricate structure, 51 additional boreholes were drilled by SCCL in the block. The structure of the
block was interpreted using the 94 borehole data by SCCL. After opening of the SRP-2 and SRP-2A
inclines, it is observed that the structures of underground workings are at variance with the structure
interpreted. Once again, a number of additional boreholes were drilled totalling to 183 boreholes up to
March 2000. Normally, around 8 to 12 boreholes per km2 were to be drilled to delineate the block for
the board and pillar method of working, whereas 34 boreholes per km2 were drilled in the block due
to the complexity of its structure [30].

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53

The block is characterized by unusual swings in the strike direction of coal deposit which was
further accentuated due to the presence of 41 faults of various dimensions and directions. The analysis
of the faults revealed that 11 are Dip faults, 6 are Strike faults and the remaining 25 faults are Oblique,
Dip oblique or Strike oblique faults. Nearly 30 of them, trend in the WNW-ESE to NNW-SSE.
Remaining 11 faults trend almost NS direction. A perusal of the fault throw direction shows that 27
faults dip towards east. While the rest of them towards the west. The throw displacement ranges from
1 m to 250 m and each fault shows decreasing/increasing trend along its direction. The gradient of the
coal measures varies from 1 in 4 to 1 in 13. The block, which was initially projected as an underground
mine under the SRP-2&2A inclines, could not be continued as its exploitation strategies challenged
often due to the presence of numerous faults. Due to favourable stripping ratio and for optimum
extraction of coal seams, the SRP-2,2A blocks are recommended for conversion into an opencast
mining.
The complexity and vertical disposition of different formations in the area are shown in Fig. 2 with
two typical cross sections. These gures indicated that the rock types includes medium to very coarse
grained grey/greenish ferruginous sandstone with subordinate clays/sandy shales. The top layer
contains weathered soils upto a depth of 5 m which is underlined by Barren measure formations
encountered at different depths. These formations were underlined by Barakar formation which
consists of predominantly grey/white colour medium to coarse grained sandstones with coal seams
and clays extend up to 250 m depth. It has been underlined by Talchir formation which consists of ne
to medium grained greenish sandstones, silt stones clays and pebble beds followed by unconformity.
The basement of formation in the area belongs to the Proterozoic age Sulluvai red white banded ne
grained sandstones and quartzites (Fig. 2).
The Barakar formations are found to be embedded with 810 coal seams which are divided into
upper and lower members. The upper member starts from the base of VI coal seam up to the Barren
measures/Barakar formation in the top with a total thickness 180 m. The lower member extends
further deep upto 1000 m from the bottom of the VI coal seam.

4. Aquifer characteristics
Aquifer performance test was conducted in the block during April 2006 by SCCL. The well is
constructed up to a depth of 208 m. The depth to the groundwater level is 5.62 m during April 2006
and the groundwater was found under conned conditions. The test has been conducted with a
constant discharge of 197 m3 day
1. The observed maximum drawdown was 21.46 m in the test well
and 6.98 m in the observation well
1 at a distance of 10 m and 5.47 m in observation well
2 at
distance of 15 m from the test well. The data has been analyzed using Cooper and Jacob method to
obtain the aquifer parameters [4]. The estimated hydraulic conductivity is 9  10
2 m day
1 and
transmissivity 11.16 m2 day
1 with a storativity of 3.1  10
4 [30].

5. Groundwater ow modeling
The variability and complexity of three dimensional heterogeneous subsurface hydrogeologic
settings strongly inuence the groundwater ow. The reliable conceptualization of the aquifer can be
described accurately only through careful hydrogeologic analysis and practice. The numerical model
can be better tools to understand the complex groundwater ow process in the typical
hydrogeological conditions. Groundwater ow model was constructed in the sub-basin covering
the Srirampur Open Cast Project area using Visual MODFLOW [18,1,11] to simulate the groundwater
conditions and to evaluate the optimal dewatering scenarios. MODFLOW 2005 is cell-centered, 3Dnite difference model and is the most widely used for calculation of the steady state or transient
saturated groundwater ow [13,14,7]. In the present study a steady state groundwater ow model was
developed as no major seasonal groundwater level uctuations were observed in the study area.

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5.1. Aquifer conceptualization and discretization

The discontinuity and anisotropy induced by the fracture networks in the fractured or weathered
aquifer systems can be minimized at large scale in an equivalent porous medium (EPM) approach
[31,36,33,34]. Therefore, the present study area is simulated as EPM approach using MODFLOW. The
entire Srirampur opencast area has been divided into 58 columns and 68 Rows with grid spacing of
250 m  250 m and 125 m  125 m in the ow mode. The resistivity investigation and bore well
geologic logging are good tools to conceptualize the aquifer system and to understand the subsurface
dynamics [23,35,9,17,24]. In the present study the vertical dispositions of aquifer layers are simulated
in the model based on the analysis of 183 borehole geologic logs spreads over the area. Then the
groundwater model was developed with twenty conceptual layers consisting of Sullavai, Talchir,

Geology
Barkar

Fault Zone
Sulavai
m

Talcher
River alluvium

SRP OCP - II

Fig. 3. Spatial disposition of hydraulic conductivity for each geologic formation in Srirampur OCP2, SCCL, Adilabad District, A.P.

L. Surinaidu et al. / Water Resources and Industry 7-8 (2014) 4965

55

m
Fig. 4. Vertical disposition of different geologic layers and distribution of hydrualic conductivity for each geologic formation in
the study area covering Srirampur OCP-II project.

Barakar sandstones and are inter bedded with coal seams, Barren measure and Kamthi formations
with a total thickness of about 311 m (Figs. 3 and 4).

5.2. Model parameters and boundary conditions

The boundary conditions are a key component of the conceptualization of a groundwater ow
system [6,5,20,28,26]. Hydrological boundaries are assigned to the model based on topographic maps
and eld investigations. The hydraulic conductivity of the different geologic formations are estimated
by pumping tests carried out in the area. The estimated hydraulic conductivity of Barakar formation is
0.1 m day
1 and for Talcher and Sulavai formations it is 0.5 m day
1 and 1.4 m day
1, respectively.
In contrast, the hydraulic conductivity of Godavari River alluvium is of 4 m day
1 and the hydraulic
conductivity of fault zones were found as 1.5 m day
1. The same hydraulic properties were given to
the model to simulate the groundwater uxes across the study area (Figs. 3 and 4). The spatial
distribution of hydraulic conductivity is shown in Fig. 3 and vertical distribution is shown Fig. 4. The
River boundary condition is assigned to the Godavari River and two perennial streams Pedda vagu in
the east and Rallavagu on the west, using the stream bed elevations and River stage collected in 2008.
The constant head boundary condition was used in the north eastern part of the area and south east
adjacent to the Godavari River which matches with the observed hydraulic heads in the area (Fig. 5).
The mine extensions in different scenarios are also shown in Fig. 5. The groundwater seepage from the
working mines are being collected in the sumps of various seams at different elevations and then
pumped out. The same pumping has been distributed appropriately using appropriate screen location
according to the depth of working mines in the mining areas in the ow model (Fig. 6 and Table 2).
In the study area, eld level recharge estimations are not available. However, groundwater
resource estimation committee (GEC) recommended recharge estimates in different geologic terrains
in India based on local climate and geology through the evaluation of a number of eld level
investigation data throughout India [10]. It is suggested that 1012% recharge could be considered in

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L. Surinaidu et al. / Water Resources and Industry 7-8 (2014) 4965

N
m

Fist scenario
m

Second scenario
Final scenario

River head
Constant head
m

Fig. 5. Boundary conditions and mine extensions in different scenarios in the ow model.

the annual rainfall in hard rock aquifers and 1530% in alluvial aquifers. So that for the present study,
the back groundwater recharge has considered as 12% (110 mm yr
1) in the annual rainfall in the area
that was distributed uniformly throughout the area. However, the groundwater recharge in the
alluvial formations of the Godavari River course was assigned as 350 mm yr
1.

6. Results and discussions

6.1. Model calibration and sensitivity analysis
Groundwater ow model calibration is achieved through a trial and error method by adjusting the
two key parameters i.e., hydraulic conductivity and recharge rates. During the model calibration 22

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57

N
m

Pumping Well
m

SRP OCP-II
MK-4
RK -7
RK-NP
RK - 5
RK - 6
IK -IA
SRP 3 & 3A
SRP - I
m

Fig. 6. Pumping from mine oor and in the villagesSrirampur OCP-II project.

Table 2
Groundwater pumping from the existing mines in the study area.
Mine name (shown in Fig. 6)

Pumping from mine oor m3 day
1

MK-4
RK-5
RK-6
RK-7
RK-8
RK-NP
IK-1A
SRP-I
SRP-3 &3A

4032
1940
3055
4860
2022
774
3150
2962
2916

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L. Surinaidu et al. / Water Resources and Industry 7-8 (2014) 4965

observed hydraulic heads measured in April 2006 are used (Fig. 7). During the sensitivity analysis
[16,12,27,2], it is observed that model is highly sensitive to both hydraulic conductivity and recharge.
Then the average hydraulic conductivity simulated in the groundwater ow model has been
moderately modied to 0.15 m day
1, 0.4 m day
1, 1.2 m day
1 and 5 m day
1 for Barakar, Talchar,
Sulavai formations and River alluvium, respectively (Figs. 3 and 4). The recharge has been
redistributed based on the observed hydrogeology and estimated aquifer hydraulic conductivity by
matching observed and computed groundwater heads. The distinction of recharge area, intermediate
area and discharge area with the groundwater recharge rates of 100, 90 and 80 mm yr
1 respectively
have been simulated during the model calibration (Fig. 8). The recharge in alluvial plains of the
Godavari River was reduced to 332 mm yr
1 (5% was reduced in the initial value). Then the
reasonable match between observed and calculated heads is achieved (Fig. 9). At the end of the model

Observation Well
Villages
Mines
Tanks
Streams
m

Fig. 7. Location map of observation wells in the Srirampur OCP-II area in the ow model.

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59

calibration the RMS and NRMS errors are 3.2 and 2.1, respectively. The model has been validated with
the observed groundwater heads measured in June 2006 and there is no signicant change in RMS
and NRMS. Therefore, the model was considered as well calibrated for observed eld hydrogeological
conditions. The computed groundwater contours indicated that the groundwater ow direction
towards mine pits from the aquifer and general groundwater ow direction towards the Godavari
River from groundwater aquifer (Fig. 10).

6.2. Groundwater budget and model predictions

The regional groundwater budget is estimated using zone budget package in Visual Modow. The
area has been divided into 12 major zones for making groundwater budget computations for the

100mm/yr
m

90mm/yr

80mm/yr
m

332mm/yr
m
m

Fig. 8. Simulated distributed groundwater recharge in mm yr
1 in the study area.

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170

Computed heead in m (amsl)

165
160
155
150
145

N=18
NRMS: 2.1
RMS: 3.25
Maximum Residual : 5.2m
Minimum Residual : -0.12m
Average Residual : 0.72m

140
135
130
125
120
120

130

140

150

160

170

Observed head in m(amsl)

Fig. 9. Computed versus observed ground water level in m (amsl) in the study area.

benet of mine management authority of SCCL. This could help to SCCL to handled further to update
or predict inows at different mine development stages (Fig. 11). The extent of quarry area and depth
of mine oor varies from initial stage to nal stage during the open cast mining. Depending on the
availability of mine void space, internal dumping of overburden material will take place adjacent to
the active mine oor. Hence, groundwater conditions vary dynamically during mine development.
The stage wise groundwater mine oors are simulated using stage wise mine plans by incorporating
the quarry area, depth and extent of internal dump. Accordingly the hydraulic parameters were
modied in the quarry areas under different mine stages in the groundwater ow model.
The groundwater balance for the entire study area for six different mine development stages are
presented in Table 3 and Fig. 5. Fig. 5 show that areal extension of mine development in three
scenarios. The areal extension has been increased from rst to third scenario and depths vary at
different development stages. Table 3 explains the groundwater withdrawal scenarios and interactive
ows between different layers/zones. The computed groundwater budget for the entire sub-basin
indicates that most of the ow is taking place along the fault zones. The predicted groundwater
inows into a different mine pits at different mine development stages is attempted by importing
corresponding elevations and the results are shown in Table 4. The net predicted groundwater inows
into the SRP OCP-II mine is 5877 m3 day
1 in the 1st scenario at 124 m (amsl). The next scenario
was simulated at 93 m (amsl) mine oor, at this stage the predicted groundwater inow into the
SRP OCP-II is 12,818 m3 day
1. The third scenario is simulated at 62 m (amsl) mine oor level and
the predicted groundwater inow into the SRP OCP-II mine is 12,910 m3 day
1. The groundwater
inows at 41, 0 and
41 m amsl are 20,428 m3 day
1, 22,617 m3 day
1 and 14,508 m3 day
1. The
moderate reduction in groundwater inows at
41 m amsl than other scenarios is due to reduction in
areal distribution of mining.
The controlled groundwater operations in the coal mines covering Zones 3 and 5 indicate uniform
lateral ow towards the Mines. The computed inow is 8000 m3 day
1 from the area towards the
working mines RK5 incline and RK6A incline (Table 4). The model computations indicate that Zone 10
(MK4 inc) and Zone 11 (IK1A inc) would be receiving a very meager ows 201 m3 day
1 and
2891 m3 day
1 respectively under current mine development scenario. The backlling of void spaces
with overburden will help to stabilize the groundwater inow during mine development. A small
amount of inow is expected into the Zone 6 (RK7) and Zone 7 (RK8) due to ongoing mining activities
in the Zones 4 and 5. The relative increase in computed inow into the Zone 8 (SRP3 and 3A) and Zone
9 (SRP1) indicate the inuence of lateral ows. The groundwater budget computations at different
mine development stages of SRPOCP indicate that the Godavari River is mainly acting as inuent

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61

Fig. 10. Computed groundwater level contours in m (amsl) in the study area.

stream during most of the time in the area. The inuent nature of the Godavari River provides
replenishment of groundwater inow around the SRP OCP. The groundwater ow model is not
considered direct surface runoff into mine pits, therefore in making withdrawals/pumping plans the
direct runoff must be considered.

7. Conclusions and recommendations

The present study area has simulated complex groundwater ow process in the typical
hydrogeological conditions with the help of high resolution hydrogeologic information and numerical

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N
m

m
m

Fig. 11. Different zones for the computation of groundwater balance in the study area.

modeling studies. It provides signicant understanding of the groundwater ow in the region using
equivalent porous medium approach. The analysis of hydrogeology indicated that faults are
controlling factors for groundwater seepage in the area. The groundwater inow into the quarry is
mainly dependent on quarry oor level and surrounding groundwater level. The calibrated numerical
model against the measured potentiometric surface under the assumed steady-state conditions predicted
that the proposed open cast mine (SRPOCP-II) would require a groundwater pumping of 5877 m day
1 in
the rst stage of development. In the second and third development stages the required groundwater
pumping would be 12,818 m day
1 and 12,910 m day
1, respectively. In the nal stage of mine
development 14,504 mday
1 of groundwater pumping is required. Groundwater budget in the area
indicated that Godavari River mainly receives base ows from the groundwater aquifer system. Further
the model could help to mine development authority to know groundwater inows into mine pits at
required depth by updating the models with relevant data to install required pumping infrastructure. The

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63

Table 3
Groundwater balance in the study area.
In put in m3 day
1

Out put in m3 day
1

In the rst scenario (mine oor at 124 m (amsl))

Lateral inow
36,237
Recharge
18,886
Godavari River and streams
17,491
Total 72,614

Lateral out ow
Groundwater pumping from the mines
Godavari River and streams
Total72,611

14,963
21,763
35,885

In the second scenario (mine oor at 93 m (amsl))

Lateral inow
36,583
Recharge
31,751
Godavari River and streams
17,052
Total 85,386

Lateral out ow
Groundwater pumping from the mines
Godavari River and streams
Total85,381

23,176
22,385
39,820

In the third scenario (mine oor at 62 m (amsl))

Lateral inow
36,593
Recharge
31,726
Godavari River and streams
17,743
Total 86,062

Lateral out ow
Groundwater pumping from the mines
Godavari River and streams
Total86,052

23,853
22,460
39,739

Table 4
Total groundwater inows into different mine pits in the study area.
Zone name referred in Fig. 11

Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone
Zone

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 (SRP-OCP II)

Net inows (m3 day
1) into different zones at different depths in m amsl
124 m

93 m

62 m

41 m

0 m

41 m

7617
3412
8291
6447

1563

3044
3779
421
201
2819
5877

8,300
3,417
8,716
6,922

2,158

3,517
3,993
752
82
2,785
12,818

8,213
3,417
8,718
6,920

2,160

3,518
3,997
751
82
2,784
12,910

2,792
3,636
12,363
8,321

2,877

6,070
9,783
2,188
135
2,763
20,428

580
4,291
11,095

18,334

3,851

4,477
2,929
1,332
288
2,791
22,617

4,746
3,449
8,649
6,687

1,834

3,596
4,758
684
99
2,778
14,504

study may be a typical case study for solving similar complicated mining hydrogeological environments.
It can help for better understanding of hydrogeologic system to design of optimal groundwater withdrawal
schemes for dewatering mine pits for safe mining. The major limitation of the model is uncertainties
associated with aquifer parameters simulated in the model can play major role in model results.

Acknowledgements
Authors are grateful to the Director, CSIR - National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI),
Hyderabad for his kind permission to publish this paper. Authors are thankful to the Singareni
Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) for the nancial support. Authors also thankful to Mr.Anil Phillip,
International Water Management Institute (IWMI) for language editing.
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