News: Mine water treatment plan for Rotherham colliery
The Coal Authority has set out proposals to deal with rising mine water at a long-closed colliery in Rotherham.
Thorpe Pit (later known as Smithy Wood Colliery) operated from 1886 – 1974. The National Coal Board and its successors then retained the site as a pumping station to reduce mine water migration to other active collieries in the area. As collieries in the area closed, pumping ceased at the site in 1986 and mine water in this part of South Yorkshire Coalfield has since been rebounding.
A new planning application shows how the authority wants to address the issue of flooding in abandoned deep mine workings which can often lead to surface discharges of polluted mine waters and/or the flow of polluted mine waters into adjoining aquifers.
The environmental impacts of abandoned mine discharges can be severe and mine water is predicted to rise in the adjacent mining block which could reach underground areas that contain two important aquifers that are exploited for public drinking water supply.
Plans state that at the Thorpe Hesley site, pumping is likely to be required by the end of 2025 "in order to mitigate risks of contamination of the overlying groundwater aquifers and prevent any uncontrolled surface discharge and the subsequent pollution of watercourses."
The plans show that Thorpe Hesley has been chosen as a strategic pumping location to intercept relatively clean shallow mine water close to the coal outcrop before it migrates to deeper mine workings in the adjacent mining block at Kilnhurst.
Treating water before it goes deeper into the mine workings allows for a wider range of more cost-effective treatment options. Here, plans include industrial pumps installed below ground, two settlement lagoons (91 metres by 35m), an aeration cascade, sludge drying bed (104m by 43m), and two wetland areas (106m by 42m).
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The treatment will encourage the precipitation of dissolved iron to solid iron particles which would be collected as ochre (iron oxide). Some 140 tonnes of ochre per year could be removed. This ochre material was previously disposed of through landfill but over recent years has been put to sustainable beneficial use, in the anaerobic digestion industry, as part of sewage treatment, to treat heavily contaminated land and as a pigment in the dye and paint industry.
After treatment, the water will continue to flow on to the proposed wetlands for final polishing before it is finally discharged into the local watercourses.
The site off Wentworth Road is within the greenbelt so the application comes within reports and details regarding things like visual impact and ecology and wildlife.
Ashley Langrick, a planner for the Coal Authority, said that the development would not have a significant effect on the environment, adding that: "conversely, the proposal will have significant beneficial effects on the environment both, as a development in its own right compared to the current arable status of the land, and, through addressing rising mine water that would, if left unabated, pollute the environment and ground water aquifers."
The Coal Authority delivers a program of facilities covering 70+ mine water treatment schemes across England, Scotland and Wales, ensuring that any accumulated mine water is responsibly treated before entering natural watercourses. It is set to go out to tender this month as it establishes a £100m mine water treatment works framework.
In September 2023, Rotherham Council, who own the freehold of the 12.13 acre site, signed off on a deal to sell to the Coal Authority.
The aim is for the Coal Authority to own the site in perpetuity and the wetlands could open to the public when they mature.
Coal Authority website
Images: Coal Authority
Thorpe Pit (later known as Smithy Wood Colliery) operated from 1886 – 1974. The National Coal Board and its successors then retained the site as a pumping station to reduce mine water migration to other active collieries in the area. As collieries in the area closed, pumping ceased at the site in 1986 and mine water in this part of South Yorkshire Coalfield has since been rebounding.
A new planning application shows how the authority wants to address the issue of flooding in abandoned deep mine workings which can often lead to surface discharges of polluted mine waters and/or the flow of polluted mine waters into adjoining aquifers.
The environmental impacts of abandoned mine discharges can be severe and mine water is predicted to rise in the adjacent mining block which could reach underground areas that contain two important aquifers that are exploited for public drinking water supply.
Plans state that at the Thorpe Hesley site, pumping is likely to be required by the end of 2025 "in order to mitigate risks of contamination of the overlying groundwater aquifers and prevent any uncontrolled surface discharge and the subsequent pollution of watercourses."
The plans show that Thorpe Hesley has been chosen as a strategic pumping location to intercept relatively clean shallow mine water close to the coal outcrop before it migrates to deeper mine workings in the adjacent mining block at Kilnhurst.
Treating water before it goes deeper into the mine workings allows for a wider range of more cost-effective treatment options. Here, plans include industrial pumps installed below ground, two settlement lagoons (91 metres by 35m), an aeration cascade, sludge drying bed (104m by 43m), and two wetland areas (106m by 42m).
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The treatment will encourage the precipitation of dissolved iron to solid iron particles which would be collected as ochre (iron oxide). Some 140 tonnes of ochre per year could be removed. This ochre material was previously disposed of through landfill but over recent years has been put to sustainable beneficial use, in the anaerobic digestion industry, as part of sewage treatment, to treat heavily contaminated land and as a pigment in the dye and paint industry.
After treatment, the water will continue to flow on to the proposed wetlands for final polishing before it is finally discharged into the local watercourses.
The site off Wentworth Road is within the greenbelt so the application comes within reports and details regarding things like visual impact and ecology and wildlife.
Ashley Langrick, a planner for the Coal Authority, said that the development would not have a significant effect on the environment, adding that: "conversely, the proposal will have significant beneficial effects on the environment both, as a development in its own right compared to the current arable status of the land, and, through addressing rising mine water that would, if left unabated, pollute the environment and ground water aquifers."
In September 2023, Rotherham Council, who own the freehold of the 12.13 acre site, signed off on a deal to sell to the Coal Authority.
The aim is for the Coal Authority to own the site in perpetuity and the wetlands could open to the public when they mature.
Coal Authority website
Images: Coal Authority
8 comments:
Within greenbelt!Won't be much of that left when labours built it's millions of houses,so they can empty hotels Come on in , everyone's welcome 🤣🤣
Grow up for goodness sake.
Why did you vote for em by chance?
How many votes did Labour get in total?
Absolutely!
Trump or Biden?
You couldn't make it up.
Combined age of 160!
They could press the button and then forget they'd done it.
Mmm, someone's just attempted to halve their combined ages.
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