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Using an unmanned aerial vehicle water sampler to gather data in a pit-lake mining environment to assess closure and monitoring

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Abstract

Residual pit lakes from mining are often dangerous to sample for water quality. Thus, pit lakes may be rarely (or never) sampled. This study developed new technology in which water-sampling devices, mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), were used to sample three pit lakes in Nevada, USA, during 1 week in 2017. Water-quality datasets from two of the three pit lakes on public lands, Dexter and Clipper, are presented here. The current conditions of the Dexter pit lake were assessed by examining cation and anion concentration changes that have occurred over a 17-year period since the pit lake was last sampled in 2000. Data gathered during this sampling campaign assessed 2017 conditions of the Dexter and Clipper pit lakes by comparing constituent concentrations to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) pit lake water-quality requirements, indicating that selenium concentrations exceeded regulatory standards. We compared our sampling data for Dexter lake to prior water-quality data from the Dexter pit lake collected in 1999 and 2000. This comparison for the Dexter pit lake indicates that evapoconcentration may have caused increasing cation and anion concentrations. This UAV sampling approach can potentially incorporate the use of additional multiparameter probes: pH, oxygen concentration, turbidity, or chlorophyll. Some limitations of this UAV water-sampling methodology are battery duration, weather conditions, and payload capacity.

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Data availability

Data for this manuscript have been deposited in HydroShare and can be found at: https://doi.org/10.4211/hs.14741342323941de8012c1add7d98bd6.

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Acknowledgements

The first author would like to acknowledge the Bureau of Land Management (Nevada State Office) for allowing the use of the UAV at their pit lakes, and allowing the use of the data retrieved from these sites. We would also like to acknowledge the authors of Balistrieri et al. (2006) for providing historical data from the Dexter pit lake. Funding was provided by the NDEP, Hatch Associates, and the University of Colorado Boulder. Work by the first author was partially supported by the Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder through a Doctoral Assistantship for Completion of Dissertation. Helpful comments on the draft manuscript were provided by Katie Walton-Day and two anonymous reviewers. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Brian J. Straight & Diane M. McKnight

  2. Golder Associates, Lakewood, CO, USA

    Devin N. Castendyk

  3. U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO, USA

    Connor P. Newman

  4. BBA, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Pierre Filiatreault

  5. Hatch Ltd, Mississauga, ON, Canada

    Americo Pino

Authors
  1. Brian J. Straight
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  2. Devin N. Castendyk
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  3. Diane M. McKnight
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  4. Connor P. Newman
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  5. Pierre Filiatreault
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  6. Americo Pino
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Correspondence to Brian J. Straight.

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Straight, B.J., Castendyk, D.N., McKnight, D.M. et al. Using an unmanned aerial vehicle water sampler to gather data in a pit-lake mining environment to assess closure and monitoring. Environ Monit Assess 193, 572 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09316-3

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