Research and analysis

Metal mine water pollution investigations in the River Wear catchment

Investigations of how best to improve water quality in the River Wear catchment by reducing pollution from historical metal mining.

• From: Coal Authority
• Published: 20 December 2021
• Last updated: 10 January 2023 — See all updates

Applies to England

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River Wear catchment metal mine water pollution investigations

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More than 80km of rivers in Weardale, County Durham, are polluted by zinc, cadmium and lead from abandoned metal mines.

Monitoring by the Environment Agency has identified several important sources of the metals which cause this pollution.

The Coal Authority and Environment Agency are carrying out a number of projects to investigate how best to improve river water quality in the Wear catchment.

These projects are summarised in this report.

Published 20 December 2021
Last updated 10 January 2023 + show all updates

1. 10 January 2023

   Updated timeline in HTML document.

2. 20 December 2021

   First published.