The data set contains the elemental composition, pH, and sulfate content of the utilized mining impacted water used as influent in the columns study, the data for pH, Eh, Cd, Fe, Mn, Zn, sulfate and sulfate removal rate in the columns, and the data for an example XPS spectrum of sulfur from one of the collected solid residues from the bioactive column. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Al-Abed, S., P. Pinto, J. McKernan, E. Feld-Cook, and S. Lomnicki. Mechanisms and Effectivity of Sulfate Reducing Bioreactors using a Chitinous Substrate in Treating Mining Influenced Water. S.J. Allen, D. Dionysiou, G.B. Martin, J. Santamaria, K.L. Yeung, T. Aminabhavi, K. Chandran, and S.G. Pavlostathis Chemical Engineering Journal. Elsevier BV, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, 323: 270-277, (2017).