display
Essen (dpa / lnw) - The mining company RAG wants to end the discharge of pit water from disused mines into the Emscher this year.
The water from the Prosper Haniel mine in Bottrop is to flow underground to the site of the former Lohberg mine on the Lower Rhine, said RAG CEO Peter Schrimpf.
There the pit water is pumped up and channeled into the Rhine.
Prosper Haniel was the last German coal mine to be closed at the end of 2018.
Schrimpf emphasized that this is an important step taken to completely rid the Emscher of mine water by the end of 2021.
The river, which has become a sewer through mining and industrialization, is currently being renatured in a billion-dollar project.
Mine water is rainwater that seeps into the depths, washing out salts and metals and collecting in the underground cavities.
So that the pit water does not mix with the groundwater, it must be pumped out permanently.
This is to happen in only six places in the Ruhr area in the future.
There the water will converge underground, be lifted with large submersible pumps and discharged into the Ruhr, Lippe and Rhine.
display
District government of Arnsberg on Prosper Haniel's final operating plan
RAG on eternal tasks