Is there a sustainable way to reduce water discolouration from peat?
The challenge
Peat washed down into the reservoirs from moorland catchments causes water to be discoloured, meaning that Yorkshire Water has to invest even more in treating the water to ensure it reaches national standards set by the regulator.
In the words of Andrew Walker, Yorkshire Water’s catchment development leader: “Centuries of change have led to Yorkshire’s peatland habitats being degraded and this is now causing us an issue with the colour of drinking water in these areas.”
The solution
Rather than building more treatment stages at its works, Yorkshire Water decided that prevention was the way forward, and decided to tackle the source of the problem by managing local peatland. A research partnership with Leeds University has allowed the company to create an internationally-recognised approach to managing its land which minimised the need for carbon-intensive water treatment whilst helping ensure the highest quality water for our customers for years to come and improving the environment at the same time.
Since 2010 Yorkshire Water has invested £9 million in its ground-breaking project, with work being undertaken at a number of renowned peatland sites across the region, including Keighley and Wessenden Moor near Marsden, which are in poor condition following a lengthy history of land drainage, heather burning and industrial pollution. The work followed two years of research carried out by Leeds University to map the moor and monitor water quality in the area to identify which areas of the moor generated the most colour and were thus in greatest need of restoration.
"Rather than investing in expensive technology, we've decided to take a sustainable approach to the problem with an ambitious programme of work which we hope will herald major benefits in terms of stabilising colour levels,” said Andrew Walker.
Resulting benefits
Yorkshire Water's restoration work will help to restore the water level of a number of peatlands. Keeping the moors wetter for longer should reduce colour loss by keeping the peat where it belongs - on the moors and not in local rivers and reservoirs – and save money in water treatment costs.
The work will also have wider environmental benefits, as it will protect and enhance some of the largest natural carbon reservoirs in the UK. Dried up areas of peatland are estimated to release the equivalent of 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year - roughly the same as the emissions from a million households
Future directions
No information available.
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