LOSS THROUGH ACID
The sealing of abandoned coalmines in the hills and -mountains that form the watershed of the Ohio Eiyer, U.S.A., and its tributaries is cutting the estimated annual £2,500^000 loss which they create. How an abandoned mine 'that no one uses can create this loss is, at.first .sight, obscure, but the answer is the 3,000,000 tons of corrosive sulphuric acid which these mines pour into the Ohio River eacn year. Abandoned coalmines, pointed out Professor W. M; Hodge, of West Virginia University, may havii much; rock'containing sulphur. When ground water seeps into the mine and oxygen from the air is present, the sulphur, hydrogen, and oxygen combine to form sulphuric acid. This acid is carried away by the natural mine drainage until it evenually reaches ..he rivers. The increased acidity attacks metal surfaces or boats, bridges, and other things, and creates the estimated damage. Sealing some 47,000 mine openings in 13,500 mines has done much to divert surface water, decrease -the oxygen content of these mines, and reduce the formation of the corrosive acid. Federal Government, funds have made possible the project, which has already improved streams in the Ohio Valley.
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Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 22, 27 January 1938, Page 20
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193LOSS THROUGH ACID Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 22, 27 January 1938, Page 20
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