NEW technology has helped reduce pollution from abandoned mines near Aberystwyth.

Natural Resources Wales has been attempting to cut pollution from old mines at Cwm Rheidol and Frongoch.

Peter Stanley, water and contaminated land technical specialist for NRW, said: “Wales has the unenviable record of being home to nine of the 10 worst metal mine polluted catchments in the UK and overall has more than 1300 abandoned metal mines, which impact on over 67 water bodies containing more than 600km of river.

“Natural Resources Wales is responsible for tackling metal mine pollution and over the years we have earned the reputation for developing innovative and cost-effective solutions for dealing with the issue.

“Two of our most successful innovation projects are at Cwm Rheidol and at Frongoch and we recently took the opportunity to share our results with our partners in tackling mine water pollution.”

Two mine entrances at Cwm Rheidol discharge highly acidic, orange water which contains high levels of zinc, lead and cadmium. Over the course of a year eight tonnes of metals are discharged into the Afon Rheidol that impacts the river for 18km.

Peter said: “The mine is situated in a narrow, steep sided valley which is unsuitable for traditional treatment processes which require a considerable area of land.

“So, KP2M Limited trading as Power & Water, a Swansea company providing research-led solutions to the water industry, successfully tendered to run a trial using an innovative sono-electrochemical technique.

“Preliminary laboratory results were encouraging, and the small footprint of the equipment makes it particularly suitable to rugged upland locations where traditional passive pond systems simply will not fit.”

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