Risk analysis for groundwater intake in an old mining shaft with increased chloride content, Upper Silesia, Southern Poland.

Water from underground intakes is the main source of potable water for people in Poland, hence the protection of its resources is of great importance for the functioning of society and the economy. A new regulation in Polish Water Law imposes the obligation of performing risk analysis for water intakes, including the assessment of health hazards, factors negatively affecting water quality which are identified on the basis of hydrogeological and geological analyses. The main objective of the study was to determine the health risk for chlorides and to present an innovative approach to the health risk for non-toxic substances. In Upper Silesia, which is the most industrialized and urbanized area in Poland, old mining shafts are often used as deep wells in the water supply chain, and higher mineralization is the key feature of abstracted water which does not quite eliminate them as a source of drinking water supply. This paper proposes a new method of health risk determination as hazard index (HI). We present analysis of the health risks with increased concentration of chlorides in water which cause health effects for water consumers, especially for men, children aged 4-8, pregnant women and women during lactation.

Long term changes in the concentration of radium in discharge waters of coal mines and Upper Silesian rivers.

According to the latest guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, 2016), coal mining is one of the most important contributors to occupational exposure. Coal mining contributes about 45% of the total annual collective dose obtained by workers due to the exposure at places of working. One of the sources of exposure in mining are formation brines with elevated concentrations of natural radionuclides, the most common are radium 226Ra and 228Ra. Radium isotopes often occur in formation waters in underground collieries in the Upper Silesian region (USCB) in Poland. Significant amounts of radium remain underground in the form of radioactive deposits created as a result of spontaneous deposition or water treatment. This phenomenon leads to the increase of radiation hazard for miners. The remaining activities of 226Ra and 228Ra are released into the rivers with mine effluents, causing the contamination of bottom sediments and river banks. The results of radioactivity monitoring of effluents and river waters are presented here to illustrate a trend of long-term changes in environmental contamination, caused by mining industry in the Upper Silesian Region.