Garrigill Culvert project in North Pennines tackles pollution caused by historical metal mining

Around 60,000 tonnes of waste - which contains more than 1,400 tonnes of lead, cadmium and zinc - have been stabilised in a scheduled monument thanks to a joint project by the Environment Agency and the Coal Authority.
Before the works, monitoring indicated that up to three tonnes of these metals were being eroded from the protected historical site each year.
The pollution was entering the watercourse a few miles south of Alston - known as the highest market town in England - where Garrigill Burn flows through culverts under the B6277 road and a large spoil heap.
This mining waste comes from the former Whitesike and Bentyfield mines, just upstream of the site, which operated during the 19th century to extract lead ore.
The work was jointly funded by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) fund, managed by Newcastle County Council.
It is part of the Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) programme - you can read more about this important work here: www.gov.uk/gov...

[@onanysundrymule3144]

This is awesome, like a flexible hose connection between two watercourse culverts. Brilliant and innovative. What would be the usual use application for that flexi hose product? Thank you.

[@TheCoalAuthority]

Hi, thanks for your question and apologies for the delay in replying. We've spoken to the project manager and he says the pipe between the culverts is actually solid (steel-reinforced plastic) with solid steel bends. It looks like a hose as it is ribbed. All the best.

[@onanysundrymule3144]

@@TheCoalAuthority That's great, thank you.