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Creating a better place

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.

Helping to keep rivers flowing but not flooding

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Clump of weeds being lifted

Debbie Thompson leads the Stour Field Team and has been with the Environment Agency for 15 years.
Here, Debbie explains how the team works throughout the year to help protect communities from flooding and improve the environment for people and nature.
The 14-strong field team can be seen working across this large chunk of east Kent on most days of the year.

How Carbon Literacy training inspired me to trim more than 23 tonnes off my personal carbon footprint

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Jennifer Howard is an Asset Performance Advisor who has worked in Flood and Coastal Risk Management for the Environment Agency for 18 years. Her work is focussed on flood incident response. Here, she talks about how her background and how …

Supporting the Siting Process for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF)

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Simple infographic illustrating regulation of a Geological disposal facility

Dr Candida Lean, a Nuclear Waste Assessor at the Environment Agency, reports on our work in Theddlethorpe, Lincolnshire, to share information with communities about the regulation of a geological disposal facility. Geological disposal – Why do we need a GDF? …