A project to reduce the amount of metal waste from former lead mines near Garrigill in Cumbria from polluting Garrigill Burn is complete.
The work is part of the Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) programme, led in partnership by the Environment Agency and Coal Authority and funded by Defra.
Over time, erosion of the banks of the river was causing metal rich sediment from the former Whitesike and Bentyfield mines to enter the burn, causing pollution.
The £380,000 project, delivered over 12 weeks by Tyne Rivers Trust, saw stone that had collapsed into the river, along with imported stone, used to rebuild embankments originally installed by miners in the 1800s. This will reduce sediment containing very high concentrations of metals such as lead, cadmium and zinc from entering the river.
The erosion of metal contaminated soils into the river has been further reduced by installing leaky dams, drainage pipes and a rock ramp. These work to either slow the flow of water coming off the fells during high rainfall or divert it away from the contaminated waste.
Garrigill Burn, in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is a tributary of the River South Tyne, which runs through the North East to the River Tyne Estuary.
Metal pollution caused by the legacy of mining in this area can be seen for up to 60km along the river, with impacts on water and sediment quality, as well as aquatic life.
Andy Edwards, Environment Agency North East Metal Mines Lead, said:
“Diffuse pollution, where metals are washed out of mine waste into rivers, is one of the major sources of metal pollution in the South Tyne.
“This completed work at Garrigill will not only reduce the amount of sediment eroded into the burn and improve the water quality of the river both now and into the future, but by rebuilding the wall we have secured a piece of the mining legacy which played such an important role in history.
“The site is a scheduled monument and Site of Special Scientific Interest and the work helps to preserve the nationally important mines as an educational resource and public amenity. It’s the first diffuse intervention project to be completed since the government set new targets in January this year to halve the length of rivers polluted by harmful metals from abandoned metal mines by 2038.”
The WAMM Programme tackles water pollution caused by historical metal mining across England -
abandoned mines now pollute rivers, harm aquatic life and have an adverse impact on the economy.
In England, metal mine pollution affects around 1,500km of rivers – 330km in the North East. The aim of WAMM is to create cleaner rivers for future generations, and encourage more wildlife, tourism and opportunities for industry which rely on clean rivers.
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