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: [ Ссылка ]
