Mining and tunneling are dangerous enough without the risk of water inflows, ranging from seepage around underground electric utilities to disastrous high pressure/high rate bursts. That is why you need efficient water sealing solutions to keep your workers and tunnel users safe, secure, and dry as they travel underground – all while ensuring they have unfettered access to critical underground infrastructure.
That’s where specialized water risk management companies can help. Sovereign Hydroseal is an experienced, trusted water sealing and leak mitigation company in the USA, and we’re well-equipped and ready to ensure your worksite is safe and secure.
Today, mining leak remediation experts at Sovereign Hydroseal explain what water risk minimization is, and how you can implement it with the right preventative strategies such as water proofing.
Put simply, in the case of civil projects and mining, water risks are related to water leaking, bursting, or otherwise discharging into underground stations, tunnels, shafts or mine openings. Moreover, in the nuclear and environmental industries, water risk may also be related to loss of containment for contaminated fluids.
The mining industry relies on extraction of mineral resources from surface pits and underground mines, often at depths that are below the water table. Near the depths of the water table, relatively low pressure inflows into mine workings generally will occur. However, in contrast, deep subsurface mines are often developed hundreds to thousands of feet below the water table, and inflow into workings can be under extremely high pressure.
Many of the discharge points where water enters underground workings on civil projects are discontinuities in lining systems. Water can enter subway stations and tunnels from many different areas, like:
Engineered seams in concrete or steel liners
Cold seams in concrete
Boundaries between foundations and walls
And more
When water inflows into underground structures — imagine water dripping on a subway user’s head, water dripping on electrical wires or machinery, or large puddles forming in low regions——it may not only be a nuisance, but could lead to catastrophic damage and personnel risk.
Without measures such as water sealing and water proofing let alone advice from a mining leak remediation expert; water damage can significantly harm or destroy property, electronics, mining machinery, energy infrastructure, and so on. Therefore, businesses—especially those in the civil, mining, and energy industries—need to know how to mitigate water risk and ensure unfettered, safe access to the underground.
There are 5 strategies and preventative techniques you can employ to reduce and even potentially eliminate the risk of unwanted water intrusions throughout your mine, facility, or civil project location. Let’s take a closer look.
If it’s still in the early stage for an underground structure or mine, you may wish to contact mining leak remediation experts to help you design your facility – ensuring that every floor, system, or appliance can be relatively isolated. Isolated structures allow you or your personnel to seal off parts of the facility without having to shut off the entire structure in the event of a catastrophe or even a small leak.
Isolation is also key for maximizing workplace safety. If your location’s water systems can be isolated from one another, personnel in a dangerous area can quickly retreat to a safer area, shutting doors or turning off water mains as they go.
This water sealing approach may not be possible if your building or mine is already constructed. However, some modifications may be possible if you contact the experts at Sovereign Hydroseal, who can redesign your water systems and add shut-off valves for greater local control, as well as reduced local escape of water risk.
One of the easiest and most important tips we can give you as a leak remediation company, is not put any high-value or unique items and technologies below or around water tanks and pipework.
Say you have a variety of important tools or machines stored for a mining operation or production plant. Those tools and machines should not be stored where most of the water for the facility flows. In the event of a leak or water sealing failure, those items could be at greater risk of being damaged or destroyed, increasing the costs you’ll have to foot the bill for in the long run.
Naturally, your staff members should know where water main shut-off valves are located. That way, in case of an emergency, your staff members can quickly shut off local water mains and prevent floods or other types of water damage.
In keeping with this tip, ensure that your water mains are properly labeled and easy to spot! The sooner your workers can enact water sealing procedures in response to a growing catastrophe, the better.
For even more preventative benefits, it might be wise to install an active monitoring and response system ASAP.
For example, a leak detection system at your construction company, mine, or facility will automatically detect when leaks appear and when they start to grow. This will reduce the costs you have to manage compared to being surprised by a big leak that grows into a burst, which grows into a flood.
Active monitoring and response systems can also give your team members time to escape if a situation is about to become volatile or dangerous. Depending on the system you choose to install, you might benefit from technologies and tools like:
Water monitors
Leak or flow detection systems
Remote alerts via building management systems or mobile phones
Automatic water sealing systems
And more
If this is what you need, you should contact grouting companies and waterproofing companies such as ourselves – Sovereign Hydroseal. We can install these kinds of systems for your business, mine, production facility, and elsewhere within in the USA. For additional information on how our grout solutions can prevent water intrusion, please refer to our permeation grouting services page.
Perhaps most importantly, you should get frequent inspections from expert water sealing and grout companies. Even if specialists install one of the above-mentioned active monitoring and response systems, then you made the right choice – complex systems and technologies can and do break down over time.
With that in mind, having a regular inspection of your building’s water systems will provide you with several big benefits, like:
You’ll be alerted if there is a leak or other problem growing
Small issues will be tackled early before they become major hazards
You’ll have the opportunity to upgrade or replace broken or worn-down parts, systems, and elements
This is especially important for large-scale commercial or production operations. With Sovereign Hydroseal – the most efficient mining leak remediation company in the USA – you can rest assured that your mining tunnel is safe and secure to operate within, and you will get warnings well ahead of any threat to personnel. Sovereign Hydroseal’s commitment to social responsibility and quality ensures that our solutions are not just effective but also sustainably managed.
As one of the best grout companies in the USA, we needed to provide our clients with some different and better. Our proprietary NOH2O Polymer-Based Emulsion grout is a unique, effective, water-sealing technology that—by nature of being a non-Newtonian and dilatant fluid—can be used for different types of grouting, including permeation grouting, reactive grouting, and post grouting after a leak or flood. For a deeper dive into how our water sealing works, especially in high-pressure environments, our NOH2O Polymer-Based Emulsion grout offers a unique and effective solution.
When your mine or facility needs a water sealing solution, we can provide it.
Ultimately, the best way to mitigate water risk is to rely on a knowledgeable leak remediation company like Sovereign Hydroseal. You may need to use water for your project and operations, but you don’t have to deal with high risks or the potential for catastrophe. The talent and experience of our inspectors and water proofing specialists are unmatched by any other grout companies. And when we send a team out, you get all of Sovereign Hydroseal. We can ensure that your business never has to worry about escaping water risk ever again. We’ll help you devise water proofing control systems, safety plans, and other tools that you and your workers can rely on for years to come. Get in touch with us today to learn more.
