This book offers a comprehensive and forward-looking analysis of water management challenges and optimization approaches in coal-mining regions around the world. It presents holistic perspectives on water management through technological, environmental, and governance approaches to ensure water sustainability in one of the most water-intensive industries.

Coal mining significantly alters natural hydrological cycles, affects water quality, and intensifies competition for available water resources, particularly in water-scarce and climatically sensitive regions. Amid increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, climate change impacts, and growing sustainability demands, the coal sector faces an urgent need to implement effective, adaptable, and responsible water management practices.

This book addresses critical knowledge gaps by bringing together current expert knowledge on mine water management throughout the mining life cycle, from pre-mining planning to post-closure landscapes. It covers essential topics, including the hydrological impacts of coal mining; water footprint and life-cycle assessment; mine dewatering and drainage management; water optimization in coal beneficiation; treatment of coal mine water and acid mine drainage; zero-liquid-discharge and closed-loop water systems; nature-based solutions; digital and intelligent water management technologies; governance and regulatory frameworks; post-mining water management; and climate change adaptation.

Real-world case studies from major international coal-mining regions illustrate best practices, lessons learned, and transferable solutions. By integrating engineering approaches with environmental science, climate resilience, and governance perspectives, the book bridges the gap between policy objectives and practical implementation. It promotes efficient and sustainable water use through practical, scalable, and evidence-based strategies aimed at achieving long-term water security and environmental stewardship.

The book is intended for researchers, academics, industry professionals, environmental consultants, policy analysts, regulators, and postgraduate students working in mining engineering, water resources, environmental engineering, and sustainable industrial development.

Dr. Bhumika Das

Dr. Bhumika Das is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at LCIT Group of Institutions (Lakhmi Chand Institute of Technology), Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India. She has over 15 years of teaching and research experience and specializes in Earth science, geospatial technology and remote sensing, groundwater and water-quality assessment, environmental impact assessment, and mineral deposits.

She is the principal investigator of projects funded by South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), Coal India, focusing on water optimization and reuse planning at Gevra Mines, Korba. She also serves as the Principal Investigator for a project under the AMRUT 2.0/Shallow Aquifer Management (SAM 2.0) initiative of the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Dr. Das has published in reputed indexed journals, along with six books as an author or editor and numerous book chapters. She holds two registered patents/designs and has guided three Ph.D. theses and several M.Tech. dissertations. She has received the Young Scientist Award from the Chhattisgarh Council of Science and Technology and serves as a reviewer for renowned journals.

Dr. Manoj Kumar Jindal

Dr. Manoj Kumar Jindal is a researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Drinking Water, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur (IITJ), Rajasthan, India. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry and has over ten years of research and teaching experience. His research focuses on environmental chemistry, particularly uranium and radionuclide hydrogeochemistry, drinking-water quality, water treatment, emerging contaminants such as microplastics, and issues relating to water quality, quantity, sustainability, and water chemistry.

He currently works at the Centre for Sustainable Drinking Water under the IITJ–Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) initiative. Previously, he worked at the Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, India, for two years and at IIT Bhilai for three and a half years.

Dr. Jindal has authored more than 40 research publications in indexed journals, along with eight books as an author or editor and numerous book chapters. He serves as a reviewer for several journals and book proposals and is an Editorial Board Member of Discover Sustainability, published by Springer Nature.

Mr. B. K. Jena

Mr. B. K. Jena is General Manager (Environment & Forest) at South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India. He brings extensive industrial insight and policy-level experience in the environmental management of coal-mining operations, including mine water management, environmental compliance, and the restoration of mining landscapes.