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Environment Agency

Love Windermere – protecting the Lake District’s crown jewel

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This World Water Day, Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of the Love Windermere Partnership Board and Environment, Planning and Engagement Manager at the Environment Agency, explains how working in partnership is helping keep the beloved Lake Windermere clean and healthy for people and nature.

Cleaning up rivers polluted by abandoned metal mines

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The Force Crag mine water treatment ponds, Lake District. Photo by John Malley.

The problems facing water are complex, with multiple sources of pollution affecting water quality. One of the lesser-known areas of the Environment Agency’s work is cleaning up pollution from abandoned metal mines.
Mining played a major part in Britain’s rich industrial history, but this also left thousands of abandoned mines scattered across our landscape. Almost all these mines had closed by the early 1900s but they are still releasing harmful metals including lead, cadmium and copper. This is one of the top 10 issues for water quality in England as it harms fish and river insects. Abandoned mines are the largest source of metals to British rivers and seas (click here for more information). Pollution is localised to about 1,500km of rivers - mainly in the North East, Cumbria, Yorkshire & Cornwall.