For the verification of sustainable effects of the cover system for waste dumps, tailings and open pit mining sites is an extensive measuring program in the context of the waste dump monitoring on these locations necessary.
The climatic relevant inputs, like precipitation, air humidity and air temperature, radiation, wind velocity, wind direction and air pressure and the soil-hydrological parameters like water tension, water content, soil temperature, soil substances contained in water as well as the perculation into the cover are monitored.
Currently, the total evaporation on the mining waste dump surface is not directly measurable. This is measured and/or computed by well-known procedures This can be measured and/or computed by well-known procedures (e.g. Haude, Wending, Turc, Pennman). These models require however the knowledge of numerous measured variables, their instrumentation collection are often not secured (condition and kind of the vegetation, marking of the soil surface among other things).
The use of special weighable lysimeter allows the direct measurement of the actual evapotranspiration process plus the determination of the soil water regime as well as the leachate formation with high temporal resolution and further relevant micro-climatic parameter such as dew, fog and rime.

Targets of mining sites monitoring:

• Determination of the total evaporation from the balance of the soil water fluxes into the regarded soil volume in the lysimeter and collection of the influence of different forms of vegetation on the water regime of the resist coatings.
• Controling of the appropriate installation parameters by the direct monolithic excavation and investigation of soil columns with typical vegetation from the cover system.
• Supply from base data to the complete parameter collection for the modelling of the water budget of the waste dump covering system.
• Locking of the knowledge gap between detail investigations of individual water budget at the site and their unification as basis for an objective concept and as basis for the transmission of punctually won data on a larger scaling up.