Case study:Saltburn Gill ironstones mines

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Location: 54° 34' 19.07" N, 0° 57' 36.96" W

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Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site
Themes	Economic aspects, Social benefits, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Peter
Main contact surname	Aldred
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	Environment Agency
Contact organisation web site	http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/
Partner organisations	Environment Agency, DEFRA, The Coal Authority (UK)
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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This on-going project targets a section of the Saltburn Gill that was negatively impacted by Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) from abandoned mine workings, located upstream of the discharge point. Historically, East Cleveland was a major source of ore for the Teesside iron and steel industry, specially from the 1850’s until the early 1960’s. Afterwards, the decline of the mining activity resulted in an uncontrolled abandonment of the working mines in within the region.

In 1999, the mine discharge rose the typical iron levels of the Saltburn Beck from around 0.1 milligrammes per litre (mg/l) to in excess of 1200mg/l. Over 330kg of iron ochre is deposited on the stream bed every day. In one year, this is the equivalent of over 100 tonnes of iron into the North Sea. The devastating effects on the ecology readily appeared, mainly due to the drastic depletion in the oxygen levels. A biological impact survey of the stream showed that the pollution reduced the water quality of the beck from good to bad status along to 2 km of the watercourse from the discharge point to the sea.

The Saltburn Gill Action Group (SGAG) was set up in 2005 as a community action group. Assistance was given by The Environment Agency, Teesside University, the local Wildlife Trust, the Parish Council and others to try to find a solution to this problem. Then, several site investigations were carried out with insights to build up a treatment plant.

Funding from DEFRA and the Environment Agency allowed the development of a treatment scheme and construction started in December 2012. This will involve a large pumping borehole into the mine workings and settlement ponds and reed beds. It is expected to start pumping in the spring or early summer of 2013 and final drying up of the polluting discharge and construction of the final parts of the scheme may not happen until 2014-15.

The River Restoration Centre would like to thank Peter Aldred from the Environment Agency for providing the information and photographs for this case study.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Image gallery

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Mine discharge point

Impact on the Saltburn Gill stream

Impact on the Saltburn Gill stream

The Saltburn Gill joining the Skelton Beck in Saltburn

Aerial photo of the lower end of the Saltburn Beck

Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district Northumbria River basin Tees Subcatchment River name Saltburn Gill Catch trib of North Sea Area category 10 - 100 km² Area (km2) Maximum altitude category 200 - 500 m Maximum altitude (m) 231231 m <br />0.231 km <br />23,100 cm <br /> Dominant geology Calcareous Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Arable and Horticulture Waterbody ID GB103025071960 Site Edit site Name Saltburn Gill Nature Reserve WFD water body codes GB103025071960 WFD (national) typology Low, Small, Calcareous WFD water body name Saltburn Gill Catch trib of North Sea Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body No National/international site designation UK - Site of Special Scientific Interest Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) Project started 2009/07/01 Works started 2012/12/03 Works completed Project completed Total cost category Total cost (k€) 700000700,000 k€ <br />700,000,000 € <br /> Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Pollution incident Hydromorphology Quantity & dynamics of flow Biology Physico-chemical Oxygen balance, PH Other reasons for the project Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Floodplain / River corridor Planform / Channel pattern Other Construction of a Treatment Plant Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents EA, 2010. Abandoned mines case study: Saltburn Gill ironstone mines Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-15002074 BBC, 2011. Polluted Saltburn Gill in Cleveland gets cash for clean-up http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-20739848 BBC, 2012. Saltburn polluted stream clean-up begins http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/news/144707.aspx EA, 2012. Saltburn’s ochre stream set for clean up Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information