Natural filtering before draining

Environmental engineering and water expert MWH has delivered a green solution to wastewater treatment for Yorkshire Water – using reeds. The £300,000 project, which began in October 2007 and has recently been completed, is based at the old Monkton Colliery wastewater treatment plant at Royston, near Barnsley.

Bethany Gardner, MWH Design Co-ordinator for the project, who is based in Wakefield, explains: “The original wastewater treatment plant was built to cope with the now closed colliery, so it is massively oversized for the flows it receives from a few nearby premises.

“Initially the plan was to abandon the works and transfer the flows via a pipeline to the nearest sewer, but as this was over a kilometre away, and involved installing pumps, an alternative solution was needed. Yorkshire Water asked us to look at the options and we recommended natural filtration via a reed bed as the most cost effective and sustainable solution.”

Once Yorkshire Water was convinced that the solution would work, the existing works were demolished, an underground septic tank installed, and a reed bed planted. The tank supplies the primary treatment, allowing solids to settle, with the cleared effluent then passing into the reed bed where it is naturally filtered before draining into the nearby Barnsley Canal.

“This is a low-tech, green solution to wastewater treatment, using the naturally occurring micro organisms around the reeds’ roots to clean the effluent, along with the natural filtration effect of the reed bed itself”, said Bethany. “Plus in keeping with the green approach, all the redundant material from the demolition of the old plant was re-used, the metal was recycled and the rubble used to create the access roads.

“The reed bed system needs no power and is completely sustainable. In the past the site had become a target for vandals, but this solution means there is virtually nothing to damage or take. In this case low-tech was the right solution”, concludes Bethany.

Yorkshire Water project manager, John Beaumont, says: “This is an excellent example of sustainable sewage treatment removing the need for an electricity power supply. The whole life cost for treatment at Monkton Colliery is now significantly lower than the traditionally powered system.”

More information: www.mwhglobal.com