ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the basic principles of assessing water balances in the design and operational phases as well as the closure and aftercare phases for hydraulic fill tailings storages. The water balances for the closure and aftercare phases for dry dumps are very similar to those corresponding to tailings storages. The examples are drawn from research on hydraulic fill ash dams, dry ash dumps and municipal solid waste landfills as well as metalliferous tailings storages. This demonstrates the generality of the principles – they can be applied to any mine waste deposit of any type.
