Hydrotechnical and ecological principles of water resources management for a mined-out mine field

The article considers the issue of predicting and managing water resources of flooded mines based on hydrotechnical and ecological criteria. Reproduction of a natural-technogenic situation within mine fields with many unknowns regarding the condition of a rock massif and influence factors became possible through a step-by-step construction and identification of a numerical geofiltration model. Balance components of formation for a technogenic underground water mode, capacity parameters and zonal water permeability of a rock massif are estimated as a result of methodical adaptation and creation of a hydrodynamic model of two adjacent mines with a complex hydrogeological structure. A duration and speed for groundwater level restoration at different time periods, an area of underflooding and flooding on the surface is established according to predictive calculations. The inefficiency of submersible pumps use is proven when capital workings lose their drainage functions and a massif has rheological dynamics. Variants for long-term pumping of mine waters with subsequent discharge into a hydrographic network do not bring the territory into a self-draining mode. Therefore, the mode of closing mines with full restoration of underground water level in a monitoring mode with a combination of drainage reconstruction of the surface is the most acceptable.