Assessment of Mine Water Environmental Impact: A Fuzzy Reliability Approach

This paper describes a stepwise method for assessing lead hazards associated with mining. The procedural framework was constructed in a decision-tree format to facilitate a reliability estimate in the watershed. A sigmoid fuzzy membership function was proposed for measuring risks. Using the α-cut technique, seven areas of risk in the region were provided for all types of water use. The suggested model was validated at the Emarat lead mine, Iran. Samples were taken from the mine face, entrance tunnel, and drainage waters at the entrance and exit point of the processing plant and tailings dam. All of the samples were located in a very high risk zone (reliability = 0) for animal drinking water, but some could be used for crop irrigation (mine site’s samples reliability > 0.77 and processing plant’s samples reliability > 80).