International Mine Water Association
| International Mine Water Association (IMWA) |
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| purpose | professional association |
| Chair: | John Waterhouse, Perth, Australia |
| Establishment date: | 1979 |
| Number of members: | 781 |
| Seat : | Wendelstein |
| Website: | www.imwa.info |
The International Mine Water Association (English, abbreviated IMWA , German: Internationaler Grubenwasserverband ) was the first scientific-technical association worldwide that dealt exclusively with questions of mine water .
history
IMWA was founded in 1979 in Granada / Spain . While questions of mining safety in connection with water were in the foreground at the time of foundation , over the years the focus has shifted to solving environmentally relevant issues. From the beginning it was the aim of IMWA to promote the contacts between scientists, miners , engineering offices and students. This is why IMWA organizes a congress on the subject of mine water every three years and, in the years in between, symposiums that deal with the same question. In 2014, 250 delegates from 30 nations are expected in Xuzhou / China at the 12th IMWA Congress .
Publications
IMWA has published the "Journal of the International Mine Water Association" since 1982; In 1994 it was renamed "Mine Water and the Environment". The journal is published in print ( ISSN 1025-9112 ) and electronically ( ISSN 1616-1068 ) by Springer-Verlag Heidelberg . It is sent quarterly to around 1,000 subscribers worldwide.
Furthermore, the book series "Mining and the Environment" has been published since 2008, which is also published by Springer-Verlag. The first volume deals with mine water management and tracer tests, the second volume deals with acidic open pit lakes.
Congresses and symposia
Since its inception, IMWA has held ten congresses and a number of symposia, each organized by the local IMWA members:
- Budapest / Hungary 1982 (1st Congress)
- Granada / Spain 1985 (2nd Congress)
- Nottingham / Great Britain 1986
- Katowice / Poland 1987
- Melbourne / Australia 1988 (3rd Congress)
- Lisbon / Portugal 1990
- Ljubljana Pörtschach / Slovenia Austria 1991 (4th Congress)
- Chililabombwe / Zambia 1993
- Nottingham / Great Britain 1994 (5th Congress)
- Denver / USA 1995
- Portorož / Slovenia 1996
- Bled / Slovenia 1997 (6th Congress)
- Johannesburg / South Africa 1998
- Seville / Spain 1999
- Katowice / Poland 2000 (7th Congress)
- Belo Horizonte / Brazil 2001
- Freiberg / Germany 2002
- Johannesburg / South Africa 2003 (8th Congress)
- Newcastle / Great Britain 2004
- Oviedo / Spain 2005 (9th Congress)
- St. Louis / USA 2006
- Cagliari / Italy 2007
- Carlsbad / Czech Republic 2008 (10th Congress)
- Pretoria / South Africa 2009
- Cape Breton / Canada 2010
- Aachen / Germany 2011 (11th Congress)
- Bunbury / Australia 2012
- Golden / USA 2013
- Xuzhou / China 2014 (12th Congress)
- Santiago de Chile / Chile 2015
In the coming years, specialist congresses are planned at the following locations:
- Leipzig / Germany 2016
- Mikkeli / Finland 2017 (13th Congress)
- Johannesburg / South Africa 2018
Membership structure
In 2014 the International Mine Water Association had 781 members from 40 nations with two local working groups in Europe (PADRE) and North America. Between 1997 and 2014, the number of members grew steadily from 70, which reflects the increasing importance of water in mining and, above all, the environmental relevance of the topic. IMWA has most members in North America and Europe, followed by Australia and South Africa.