FRESH WATER

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 13th Year

Issue

Issue No.

1

Date Released

Sep 1959

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1KELLINGLEY
2. 2SMALL COAL
3. 3FRESH WATER
4. 4OVER-MEN

Story

Story No. within this Issue

3 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: one of the mining industry’s biggest problems, water underground, is solved at Mainsforth colliery, County Durham, by utilising the underground water to augment local water supplies
NCB Commentary - For many years now the Durham County Water Board has been hard put to it to supply enough water to meet the demand. New industrial projects and new housing estates have made the situation worse.
Mainsforth Colliery, near Ferryhill, on the other hand has 2 million gallons a day more than it wants. The problem of water in underground workings is one of the biggest the mining industry has to face. Indeed, for every ton of coal mined in Britain, an average of 15 tons of water has to be pumped out. In one colliery the figure is as high as 150 tons. Now at Mainsford and almost in the pit yard, the Water Board have built a new treatment plant to handle the surplus. The water, pumped from the Underground workings, goes first to huge storage tanks.
The rate of flow into the treatment plant is varied according to local demand and then begins the process of purification and softening to make it fit for drinking.
Acid and alum are added to hold back particles of clay and coal and precipitate them. This however is not always necessary for this pit water is remarkable clean and pure.
Next it’s filtered through layers of sand and gravel. It is only necessary to soften a percentage of the water and salt is used in the process.
Afterwards the softened and the unsoftened waters will be blended together. It’s a chemists job and every stage of treatment must be carefully analysed and controlled.
So, after treatment, the water, which was once an embarrassment to Mainsforth Colliery, becomes an asset to the people of Durham and another step has been taken to overcome a serious problem of shortage.

Keywords

Science and technology; Mining; Engineering

Locations

England; County Durham

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.14 No.160 February 1960, p82.
The National Archives COAL 32   /12 Scripts for Mining Review, 1956-1960

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Sponsor

National Coal Board