---
title: AMD treatment overview
description: "# AMD treatment overview This information was largely taken from EPA Region 3  publication A Citizen's Guide to Address Contaminated Coal Mine Drainage, EPA-903-K-97-003. ![](https://i0.wp.com/amrclearinghouse.org/images/YellowCreek1ASmall.jpg) Accessing Abandoned Mine Drainage sites for possible construction of treatment systems involves analyzing four basic…"
url: "https://aml-connect.org/aml-knowledge-base/amd-treatment-overview/"
updated: "2026-01-13"
category: "AML Reclamation & AMD Treatment / AMD Treatment"
---

# AMD treatment overview

# AMD treatment overview

This information was largely taken from EPA Region 3  publication A Citizen's Guide to Address Contaminated Coal Mine Drainage, EPA-903-K-97-003.

![](https://i0.wp.com/amrclearinghouse.org/images/YellowCreek1ASmall.jpg)

Accessing Abandoned Mine Drainage sites for possible construction of treatment systems involves analyzing four basic criteria: water chemistry, flow rate, available land, and financial/in-kind resources. 

Treatment methods to address AMD focus on neutralizing, isolating, stabilizing and/or removing problem pollutants through various chemical, physical, and biological processes.  There are two basic types of treatment systems.  Active treatment involves that addition of alkaline chemicals such as lime, soda ash, or ammonia, with the contaminated drainage to decrease its acidity and speed up the removal of metals.  Passive systems clean contaminants from mine drainage by exposing it to air, limestone, cattails, and other vegetation that form carefully designed components of ponds, neutralizing ditches, buried channels, and wetlands.  

[Treatment Techniques](http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/nps/mining/treatment.htm) EPA's Region III Description of Treatment Options

[AMD Treatment](http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/kirby/AMDtrmt.html)  Bucknell University

Mining and Acid Mine Drainage [BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES](http://h2osparc.wq.ncsu.edu/wetland/aqlife/mining.html) from WATER SHEDDS

[Passive Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage](http://www.blm.gov/nstc/library/pdf/TN409.PDF), Technical Note 409 April 2003 by: K.L. Ford Bureau of Land Management National Science and Technology Center

[THE LATEST TECHNOLOGIES TO CONTROL AND TREAT ACID MINE DRAINAGE](http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/99/99apprvr/ar7-1.pdf) By Jeff Skousen and Paul Ziemkiewicz West Virginia University

[Description of Various Treatment Methods: Both Active and Passive](http://www.newmilesofbluestream.com/nmbs/treatment.html) New Miles of Blue Streams

[Handbook of Technologies for Avoidance and Remediation of Acid Mine Drainage](http://wvwri.nrcce.wvu.edu/programs/adti/publications/adti_handbook.html) Prepared by J. Skousen, A. Rose, G. Geidel, J. Foreman, R. Evans, W. Hellier, and members of the Avoidance and Remediation Working Group of the ACID DRAINAGE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE (ADTI);  Published by The National Mine Land Reclamation Center located at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia June 1, 1998; ADTI is a government/industry joint venture dedicated to the development and use of best science applications to the problem of acid mine drainage.