1/ The Trust was originally asked to be involved at a factory site in West Cumbria that needed thousands of cubic metres of water a day for process water. Originally the company had taken all the water it needed from the public supply as it had paid much of the original costs for supplying the town with water nearly fifty years earlier. This special arrangement was coming to an end and the costs were to grow enormously for the company. This would threaten the future viability of the factory and put many people’s livelihoods at risk in a very deprived post industrial area of the UK.
The water sources of the area were assessed and minewater was considered a sustainable resource, there were three different mineral workings that could be accessed under or close by the site; coal, Anhydrite and Alabaster, all three having been won from the ground adjacent to the site.
Research was carried out to consider all three options, including accessing mine shafts (with the relevant permissions and risk assessments, Coal Authority and others). Water quality sampling, surveys of river and stream flows, borehole logging (many thanks to Mike Wood of Anglian Water plc). Eventually the Anhydrite workings were considered the best resource and a rising main installed with large submersible pumps to raise water from a shaft just beyond the factory perimeter. This proved a success with pumping trials and demonstrated the availability of near free water again available to the factory.
2/ The same factory required much in the way of other environmental research including waste streams to the Irish Sea and contaminated land issues. Research was carried out regarding decontamination methods which were carried out and the discharge to the Irish Sea ceased.
Above is a drain angel.
The vessels at Whitehaven before clean rivers got involved.
This image shows the levels of corrosion at Whitehaven.
The architects drawing of Whitehaven produced with assistance from Clean Rivers Trust.
This image shows the foam at White Haven.