Coal Authority talks to young professionals on environmental work

Two experts from the Coal Authority have highlighted the issues of mine water pollution and its mitigation to young members of the Institute of Water.

Cara Callingham, our Assistant Technical Research and Development Manager, gave a presentation on the effects of pollution from historic coal mining, at a meeting of the organisation for professionals working in the UK water sector.

Held at the National Coal Mining Museum for England at Caphouse Colliery in West Yorkshire, Cara explained the origins of mine water pollution and how we monitor and treat it to reduce the impact on watercourses and drinking water supplies.

Her presentation was followed by a guided tour of our mine water treatment scheme at the site, together with the research and development projects we have based at the museum.

These include developing and testing novel, low footprint treatment technologies for the removal of iron and other metals from mine water.

The tour was led by Dr Chris Satterley, our Technical Research and Development Manager.

He told the delegates how the projects represent just a few of the alternative methods we are exploring to deal with the prevention and remediation of water course and aquifer pollution.

This event, which was the Institute of Water Northern Area’s first joint technical and professional networking event, also included an underground tour of the Caphouse Colliery and a presentation by Dr Alexander Nicholson, a senior engineer with Arup, on tackling global challenges through river basin restoration.