The Force Crag mine lies at the head of the Coledale Beck, a little to the west of Keswick in the Lake District National Park. It was mined for barytes, zinc and lead until 1991, when it finally closed, and has been a source of pollution to the Coledale Beck ever since. The site is owned by the National Trust due to the industrial heritage value of the site (the last working metal mine in the Lake District). The NU team has undertaken research at the site for nearly a decade, investigating point and diffuse sources of pollution to the Coledale Beck, and leading the process design of a large-scale, sustainable treatment system that now treats one of the major point sources of pollution from the mine. This catchment has been selected partly because we hold a substantial body of historic data for the Coledale Beck, but also because we know from previous research that diffuse sources of pollution make an important contribution to the overall metal load in the Coledale Beck.
