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Hydrock Wins Major Environment Agency Remediation Project

Following a rigorous tendering process, remediation contracting company Hydrock has won a significant Environment Agency contract to remediate groundwater contamination on a major aquifer at Helpston near Peterborough.

Work has now started on the £2.5m plus project, which will involve Hydrock treating over a million cubic metres of ground water over the next ten years on the site of two former landfills. In the 1980s, the tips were used for the disposal of an agricultural pesticide called mecoprop, which has leaked into the aquifer. The pollution has since found its way to water supply boreholes several miles away, and the pumped water needs extensive treatment to make it safe for drinking. In order to deal with the consequences of this major historical pollution incident, a line of remediation wells has been installed between the tips and the public water supply boreholes, to create a 'hydraulic barrier' which will stop further mecoprop migration. The water taken from the remediation wells goes to a water treatment plant operated and maintained by a team of Hydrock specialists.

The contract will also involve the investigation of the tips to identify the source of the mecoprop and the implementation of measures to prevent further leakage. To the east of the line of wells Hydrock will be monitoring the dissipation of the mecoprop over a wide area, using complex groundwater models to understand the contaminant transport processes and to predict how long it will be before the mecoprop reduces to a safe level.

Dr Mike Higgins, Hydrock's Remediation Director, expressed his delight about this achievement. 'Winning this high profile complex project is a significant achievement for Hydrock. Over 30 organisations, including some of the UK's best known consultants and contractors, went through the pre-qualification process and Hydrock was eventually appointed from a short-list of six companies invited to tender.'

Hydrock, established in 1995, provides consultancy and specialist contracting services for construction, infrastructure and the environment and employs more than 340 people from bases in Bristol, Bath, Stoke-on-Trent, Northampton, and Plymouth.

If you would like to receive more information on upcoming dates and locations, please email mikefernott@hydrock.com.