25 Apr The Problems Caused by Britain’s Former Mines

There are many areas in the UK where mining has been carried out and lots of valuable materials have been extracted from the ground – from coal to tin, there are a wealth of materials that have been useful and therefore have been mined underneath our feet.

However, despite the fact that these mines have mostly closed down now and have been closed for many years now, they still have a huge impact on the land around them, and this can be a huge problem. In areas that have formerly been used for mining, land as well as groundwater can be contaminated, and experts like this groundwater remediation specialist https://soilfix.co.uk/services/soil-and-groundwater-remediation need to be called in to remove the contamination.

Here are some of the issues caused by it…

Growing Crops – Crops that are grown on land that is contaminated of course will then pass these contaminants up the food chain and into the food that we eat. This can then be toxic to people, so land that is farmed should always be checked for this reason.

Housing – There are lots of homes built in areas that are near to former mining activity in the UK and for some of these homes, this has caused issues such as radon gas releases and ground instability.

Nature and Wildlife – Land and water that is contaminated has a detrimental impact on wildlife – affecting anything from flowers to fish. It is essential that we get the land cleaned up to help the native wildlife.