The negative impacts of mining investments have concerned Shalaho Dina Devy. Shalaho views that the impacts relate to hydrology, morphology, and hydrogeology condition of mining areas and affect groundwater flows. He eventually offered the hydrogeology concept and groundwater modeling as a solution to the mining problems.
Shalaho expressed these ideas in his dissertation titled Hidrogeology and Groundwater Modeling in Open Coal Mining in Muara Lawa, West Kutai Regency, East Kalimantan Province. In his opinion, maintaining the quality and quantity of groundwater is important to keep the sustainability. With such condition, understanding is imperative on hydrology, hydrogeology limit condition, and morfology changes before mining is conducted.
“With this understanding, the information can be made a basic mining knowledge to know the quality and quantity of groundwater before and until the closing of the mining site,” said Shalaho on Saturday (14/11) during his open doctoral examination in Faculty of Engineering.
Shalaho said to address the impacts of open mining in the future, consideration was necessary in terms of transport studies, monitoring and controlling of groundwater quality, minimising the expose of PAF assistance, monitoring and controlling of AAT quality, and management and monitoring of waste water quality.
“Through this research, society may understand which areas have groundwater potential while mining companies know the hydrogeology which in the future may affect mining draining, minimise void, and prepare against the formation of mining acid water,” said Shalaho.