Case study:Saltburn Gill ironstones mines

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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://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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East Cleveland was a major source of ore for the Teesside iron and steel industry. The Cleveland Ironstone band was worked from the1850’s until the early 1960’s, resulting in a legacy of abandoned mine workings.

In 1999, Acid Mine drainage from the abandoned mine workings to the Saltburn Gill rose the typical iron levels 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, contributing to a discharge of over 100 tonnes of iron into the North Sea each year. The pollution caused a depletion in Oxygen levels, with a devastating effect on the ecology. A biological impact survey of the stream showed that the pollution had reduced the quality of the beck from grade Good to Bad, resulting in 2 km of the watercourse negatively impacted.

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.

In 2009/10, in Partnership with the Coal Authority, with funding from Defra, the Environment Agency undertook a number of investigations to establish the feasibility of building a treatment plant for the minewater. Construction of the treatmnet plant 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.

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Catchment and subcatchment

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Site

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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
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River corridor land use
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Project background

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Project started
Works started	2012/12/03
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Reasons for river restoration

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Mitigation of a pressure	Pollution incident
Hydromorphology	Quantity & dynamics of flow
Biology
Physico-chemical	Oxygen balance, PH
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Measures

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Structural measures
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Floodplain / River corridor
Planform / Channel pattern
Other	Construction of a Treatment Plant
Non-structural measures
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Monitoring

Hydromorphological quality elements

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quality elements

Element	When monitored		Type of monitoring		Control site used	Result
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Biological quality elements

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quality elements

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Physico-chemical quality elements

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quality elements

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Supplementary Information

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