PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Lead: Contamination (8 November 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the extent of sediment-associated lead contamination in (a) river channels and (b) floodplains downstream of historical lead mines; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the Environment Agency's focus on water pollution in addressing this risk.

Asked by:
Sir Julian Smith (Conservative)

In 2008, the Environment Agency (EA) published the report: Assessment of metal mining contaminated river sediments in England and Wales - GOV.UK. The report brought together all available information on metal concentrations in river sediments, riverbanks and floodplain soils downstream of abandoned metal mines. This confirmed:

• The long history of metal mining in England has contaminated sediments in rivers, estuaries and lakes, as well as floodplain soils with a range of metals, particularly lead, cadmium, zinc and copper.
• Although metal discharges were greater during the peak period of active mining in the nineteenth century, inputs of dissolved and particulate metals still occur. Past discharges have left a reservoir of highly contaminated sediments in lowland rivers many kilometres downstream of the mines.
• This metal contamination may pose a risk to aquatic wildlife and agriculture, but the report did not assess these risks.

Through Defra’s Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) Programme, the EA is working with the Coal Authority to tackle water pollution from abandoned metal mines. The government has a legally binding target to halve the length of rivers polluted by metals, including lead, from abandoned metal mines by 2038. Through diffuse interventions and treatment schemes, WAMM has already improved water quality in ~100 km of rivers.

Local Authorities are responsible for identifying contaminated land under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This includes where floodplains exist downstream of historic lead mines if lead washed out of rivers is causing an unacceptable risk to people, crops, or livestock.

Defra recently commissioned the EA to produce another State of Contaminated Land Report. The EA will seek to include additional questions in this desk-based survey to find out if Local Councils are assessing contaminated land risks downstream of historical lead mines.

Answered by:
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1 January 1970