Blackburn Meadows
Encyclopedia
Blackburn Meadows is an area of land in England
, just inside the Sheffield
city border at Tinsley
, which became the location of the main sewage treatment works for the city in 1884. The works progressively expanded to enable the quality of effluent discharged into the River Don to be improved, and was a pioneer in the use of bio-aeration, following experiments by the works manager during the First World War. The plant was serviced by its own internal standard gauge
railway for over 100 years, which used three steam and three diesel engines over the course of its existence, until its replacement by road vehicles in the 1990s. It is one of the largest treatment works in Britain, second only to Leeds
.
A power station was operational on the southern part of the site from 1921 to the 1970s. Two of its cooling towers remained until 2008, as demolition was difficult because they were very close to the M1 Tinsley Viaduct
. Following extensive upgrading of the treatment works, to improve the quality of discharges to the river still further, the sludge beds became redundant, and have been turned into a nature reserve, providing habitat for migrating birds.
negotiated with Yorkshire Water
and leased an unused part of the former sewage works for 99 years, at an annual rent of one peppercorn
, to enable it to be reclaimed and turned into a nature reserve. In order to manage the project, a consortium was formed, with representation from Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Wildlife Trust, South Yorkshire Forest and Yorkshire Water. It now provides habitat for migrating birds, for which it is an area of European significance. The Wildlife Trust run an active programme of school education visits. In 2005 the City Council exercised an option to increase the size of the reserve by taking over additional land from Yorkshire Water.
Blackburn Meadows is the lowest point within Sheffield City Council
. The River Don flows out of the city under Templeborough railway bridge past a benchmark set at 29.27 metres (96 ft) above sea level.
, and the risk that their demolition might cause Tinsley Viaduct
to be damaged. The 250 feet (76 m) towers were hyperbolic in shape, and were designed by L. G. Mouchell and Partners, who had also been responsible for the first such towers erected at Liverpool
in 1925. The Blackburn Meadows towers were built between 1937 and 1938. English Heritage considered whether they should be designated as listed structures, but ruled against it because the internal cooling structures had been removed, and there was no context for them, as the rest of the station no longer existed. On Sunday 24 August 2008 at 3 am, the two landmark towers were finally demolished with explosives, without damaging the motorway.
works is the second largest treatment works in the United Kingdom, processing 79 million gallons (360,000 m3) of effluent each day, and only the works at Leeds
processes more. It was opened in 1886, and is located on a site to the north of the River Don, and to the east of Tinsley Viaduct
.
railway track connected the limeshed to a junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
. Bissetts had completed their work by January 1886, and although £2,462 had been spent on extras, their final bill came to £23,933, which was £27 cheaper than the original contract value. Savings were made by using concrete for the foundations and bottoms of tanks, rather than brick and puddle clay.
By mid-1886, the works was complete, and the Mayor, J. W. Pye-Smith Esq, officially opened it on 2 June. The event was witnessed by members of the Council, and by invited guests, which included a representative from the London Metropolitan Board of Works. Reports at the time indicated that the sewage passed through catch pits by gravity, which allowed solids to settle, which were removed weekly. Milk of lime was then added as it flowed through mixing channels, after which it entered rectangular settling tanks. Next it passed on to a number of precipitating tanks, each holding 50000 gallons (227.3 m³), where after 30 minutes of settling, it passed over aerating weirs. Finally it ran through coke filters and was discharged into the river. Around 100 tons of sludge was removed from the precipitating tanks each day, to be pumped into ponds. Once the water had drained off, it was moved to drying beds, and was then used as manure by farmers, or was taken by rail to a tip at Kilnhurst
, near Rotherham
. Initially, there were 30 precipitating tanks and 60 aerating or filtering tanks.
The railway also developed, with the acquisition of 250 yards (228.6 m) of portable track and six tipping wagons in 1889, a steam crane later the same year, and more wagons in 1891 and 1892. The first locomotive arrived in 1898, after its purchase from the Yorkshire Engine Company
. It was an 0-4-0 saddle tank, which had been built in 1875 for use as a contractor's engine, and had been refurbished by the manufacturer. A maintenance contract for the wagons lapsed in 1900, as the men at the works had become proficient at repairs.
In parallel with the construction of the works, trunk sewers were built to convey sewage from the city to the works. These was a major programme of expansion to the sewer network in 1910, to ensure that it could cope with the expected volumes of effluent produced. Because British sewers are also expected to handle rainwater, a series of storm sewage overflows were provided, which resulted in diluted sewage being discharged into the River Don in times of heavy rainfall.
was obtained in 1900, which allowed Sheffield Corporation to buy an additional 105 acres (42.5 ha), on which contact beds would be built, so that the effluent could be better treated before discharge. The initial plan was costed at £367,355, which was reduced to £270,369 when secondary contact beds were removed from the scheme. The Local Government Board
approved the plans on 13 May 1905, paving the way for the construction of a biological treatment system, instead of the system using lime. Logan and Hemmingway, who were contractors based at Nottingham
, won the initial contract for excavations, and also the subsequent one for the construction of six settling tanks, 24 contact tanks, and Jordan bridge, which would carry the railway over the River Don Navigation
. The contract was worth £41,046, and further contracts followed, which included £36,500 for 36 more contact beds and 3 settling tanks, £5,000 for excavating 40000 cubic yards (30,582.2 m³) of earth, and £36,484 for storm beds and other work, which was subsequently raised to £39,184, so that they could pay their workers at the same rate as Sheffield Corporation paid their own workmen.
The Lord Mayor opened the first part of the new works on 28 October 1909, and Sheffield Council increased the amount of land they owned for sewage treatment to 226.5 acres (91.7 ha) by buying another 81 acres (32.8 ha), on which contact beds could be constructed if required at a later date. Discharges to the river were still of poor quality, and a secondary treatment process was designed, although its implementation was delayed by the onset of the First World War. However, John Haworth became works manager in 1914, and began to experiment with ways to treat the effluent. A continuous narrow channel was constructed within a tank, and paddles were used to agitate the liquid. This allowed it to become oxygenated, which supported bacteria, allowing them to digest the sewage. The process was called bio-aeration, but became known as the "Sheffield System", and a steady stream of people came to inspect the works, both from local authorities in Great Britain and from overseas. Many of the contact beds were converted to use the new system between 1922 and 1927. The treatment process significantly reduced the biochemical oxygen demand
of the effluent discharged to the river, but was not good at removing ammonia
, which was a major contributor to the poor water quality of the river below the works, and the destruction of the fish populations. The effluent regularly contained more than 20 mg/l of ammonia, which resulted in levels of over 10 mg/l in the river. Few fish can survive in concentrations of over 2 mg/l.
In 1915, the Corporation had made enquiries about purchasing a second-hand steam engine, approaching six locomotive manufacturers, but eventually acquired a new 0-4-0 saddle tank from Peckett and Sons
Ltd, which was built at their Bristol
works in 1918. The original engine became a spare, but was hired out to the Blackburn Meadows power station in March 1936. A year later it was condemned by the insurance company, and was sold for scrap to Maden and McKee Ltd, who were based in Liverpool
. A replacement was sought, and a third 0-4-0 saddle tank, made by Hudswell Clarke
in 1914, was bought from the Olympia Oil and Cake Company at Selby. It was coupled into a goods train, and arrived at the works in July 1937. At the works, as at Selby, it carried the name Olympia, painted on the tanks. The Peckett was overhauled by the Yorkshire Engine Company at Meadow Hall Works between 1945 and 1946. Because there was a statutory obligation to keep the treatment works operational, a special dispensation was obtained during the 1926 general strike, to allow this engine to run over the main line, delivering wagons to Kilnhurst tip. Kilnhurst tip eventually became full, and in January 1948, regular tipping operations ceased, after a new tip at Thrybergh
opened. Tipping continued at Kilnshurst sporadically, until it was closed in 1959. During its operational life up to 1948, 2,917,480 tons of sewage sludge was dumped at the site. It was sold to the National Coal Board
in 1961.
The railway was also upgraded at this time. Thomas Ward Ltd supplied replacement track in 1955, and a new 0-4-0 diesel electric shunter was ordered from Ruston and Hornsby Ltd
in 1959. It was delivered from Lincoln on a low-loader in 1960, and was so successful that a second engine of the same type was ordered the following year. The Hudswell Clarke steam engine was cut up on site in 1962, but the Corporation wrote to Peckett's to see if they would convert the Peckett engine to diesel hydraulic transmission. Peckett's declined, and so the engine was converted at the works, by cutting off the boiler and saddle tank, and fitting a Perkins diesel engine removed from a crane. It was completed on 12 May 1962, and worked well, although it spent most of its subsequent life working at Thrybergh tip. It returned to Blackburn Meadows in 1967, and was cut up later that year. A prototype steel side-tipping wagon was ordered from Robert Hudson Ltd
of Leeds
in 1955, and a further 22 followed in 1957, to replace the original wooden wagons. Charles Roberts and Co Ltd of Wakefield
supplied 12 more in 1958, and a further 35 in 1961, with Hudsons supplying the final 6 in 1963.
In 1976, a new diesel shunting locomotive, made by Thomas Hill
of Rotherham
was purchased. It was built at Kilnhurst, and driven along the ex-Great Central Railway
line from there to the works. The first Ruston and Hornsby engine was partially dismantled, and eventually cut up in January 1978. The connection between the works and the British Rail
network was cut in 1984, and the system became one of a very small number of isolated standard gauge railways. By 1986, the track layout had been simplified, and the track across Jordan bridge had been lifted. When rail operation ceased in the 1990s, one of the Hudson tipping wagons went to the National Railway Museum at Shildon
, and the Thomas Hill engine, after several changes of ownership, is now located on the Peak Rail
preserved railway at Matlock.
By the 1960s, the Sheffield sewers were inadequate for the volume of effluent, and overflowed into the river during periods of light rainfall and sometimes when there was no rainfall. Some of them had been in use for 80 years, and inspection revealed that major reconstruction was required. The solution adopted was to tunnel the Don Valley Interceptor Sewer through the Carboniferous rock beneath the existing sewers. Work began of the first phase in 1979, when 1.33 miles (2.1 km) of 18 feet (5.5 m) tunnel were built from the works to a drop shaft in Hawke Street. A new pumping station was required at Blackburn Meadows, and this phase was completed in July 1983. Over the next decade, four further phases were completed, involving the tunnelling of 1.39 miles (2.2 km) of sewer with a diamater of 12 feet (3.7 m) to a drop shaft near Furnival Road, a new sewer from Furnival Road to the Whitbread Brewery with another from the Sheaf Valley sewer to the central bus station, extension of the Don Valley sewer to Gilpin Street, and finally extension from Gilpin Street to Livesey Street in Hillsborough. As a result of this work, the capacity of the sewers was greatly increased, and 26 storm sewage overflows were closed, resulting in significant improvement to water quality in the river.
. The new plant made the old sludge beds, situated to the east of the river Don and on the island formed by the Don and the Holmes Cut, redundant, and it is these that have become the nature reserve. Further improvements to the process were completed by 2005. These included an upgrade to the wet scrubbing system, in order to remove heavy metals and acid gases such as sulphur dioxide
, hydrogen chloride
and hydrogen fluoride
from the flue gases produced by the incinerator, and the addition of a tertiary adsorbtion filter, which removes mercury
and dioxins. The improvements were designed to ensure that the plant met the standards set out in the Waste Incineration Directive
.
The outflow from the works, which passes under the River Don Navigation
and joins the river beside Jordans weir, has in the past been a major contributor to the pollution of the River Don, but some £70 million has been invested in upgrading the plant, to ensure that discharges to the river meet the requirements of the Freshwater Fish Directive. In dry weather, the outfall discharges 30 million gallons (136,000 m3) of treated water each day, more than doubling the flow in the river at this point.
The works was shut down on 25 June 2007, after the Don burst its banks, and the entire site was engulfed by several feet of water. It remained submerged for over a week, with much of the equiment suffering catastrophic damage. Once the water subsided, imaginative ways had to be found to return it to operation within a reasonable time. The analyser which measures emissions from the incinerator plant had been completely destroyed, and in order to mitigate a 16-week delivery time, the manufacturers removed one from a training centre at Telford, and it was hired by Yorkshire Water until a new unit could be supplied. The plant was recommissioned and operational just 18 days after its innundation.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, just inside the Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
city border at Tinsley
Tinsley, South Yorkshire
Tinsley is a suburb of northeastern part of Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Its name derives from the Old English Tingas-Leah, which means 'Field of Council'...
, which became the location of the main sewage treatment works for the city in 1884. The works progressively expanded to enable the quality of effluent discharged into the River Don to be improved, and was a pioneer in the use of bio-aeration, following experiments by the works manager during the First World War. The plant was serviced by its own internal standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
railway for over 100 years, which used three steam and three diesel engines over the course of its existence, until its replacement by road vehicles in the 1990s. It is one of the largest treatment works in Britain, second only to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
.
A power station was operational on the southern part of the site from 1921 to the 1970s. Two of its cooling towers remained until 2008, as demolition was difficult because they were very close to the M1 Tinsley Viaduct
Tinsley Viaduct
Tinsley Viaduct is a two-tier road bridge in Sheffield, England; the first of its kind in the UK. It carries the M1 and the A631 1033 metres over the Don Valley, from Tinsley to Wincobank, also crossing the Sheffield Canal, the Midland Main Line and the former South Yorkshire Railway line from...
. Following extensive upgrading of the treatment works, to improve the quality of discharges to the river still further, the sludge beds became redundant, and have been turned into a nature reserve, providing habitat for migrating birds.
Nature Reserve
In 1993 Sheffield City CouncilSheffield City Council
Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors...
negotiated with Yorkshire Water
Yorkshire Water
Yorkshire Water is a water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company has its origins in the Yorkshire Water Authority, one of ten...
and leased an unused part of the former sewage works for 99 years, at an annual rent of one peppercorn
Peppercorn (legal)
A peppercorn in legal parlance is a metaphor for a very small payment, a nominal consideration, used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract. "A peppercorn does not cease to be good consideration if it is established that the promisee does not like pepper and will throw...
, to enable it to be reclaimed and turned into a nature reserve. In order to manage the project, a consortium was formed, with representation from Sheffield City Council, Sheffield Wildlife Trust, South Yorkshire Forest and Yorkshire Water. It now provides habitat for migrating birds, for which it is an area of European significance. The Wildlife Trust run an active programme of school education visits. In 2005 the City Council exercised an option to increase the size of the reserve by taking over additional land from Yorkshire Water.
Blackburn Meadows is the lowest point within Sheffield City Council
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
. The River Don flows out of the city under Templeborough railway bridge past a benchmark set at 29.27 metres (96 ft) above sea level.
Power Station
The power station was built in 1921 by Sheffield corporation, was further modified between 1937 and 1942, and remained operational until the 1970s. When the rest of the power station was demolished in the 1980s, two of its seven cooling towers were left standing due to their close proximity to the M1 motorwayM1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
, and the risk that their demolition might cause Tinsley Viaduct
Tinsley Viaduct
Tinsley Viaduct is a two-tier road bridge in Sheffield, England; the first of its kind in the UK. It carries the M1 and the A631 1033 metres over the Don Valley, from Tinsley to Wincobank, also crossing the Sheffield Canal, the Midland Main Line and the former South Yorkshire Railway line from...
to be damaged. The 250 feet (76 m) towers were hyperbolic in shape, and were designed by L. G. Mouchell and Partners, who had also been responsible for the first such towers erected at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 1925. The Blackburn Meadows towers were built between 1937 and 1938. English Heritage considered whether they should be designated as listed structures, but ruled against it because the internal cooling structures had been removed, and there was no context for them, as the rest of the station no longer existed. On Sunday 24 August 2008 at 3 am, the two landmark towers were finally demolished with explosives, without damaging the motorway.
Sewage Treatment Works
Blackburn Meadows sewage treatmentSewage treatment
Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage, both runoff and domestic. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants...
works is the second largest treatment works in the United Kingdom, processing 79 million gallons (360,000 m3) of effluent each day, and only the works at Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
processes more. It was opened in 1886, and is located on a site to the north of the River Don, and to the east of Tinsley Viaduct
Tinsley Viaduct
Tinsley Viaduct is a two-tier road bridge in Sheffield, England; the first of its kind in the UK. It carries the M1 and the A631 1033 metres over the Don Valley, from Tinsley to Wincobank, also crossing the Sheffield Canal, the Midland Main Line and the former South Yorkshire Railway line from...
.
History
As the population of Sheffield increased, Sheffield Corporation bought 23 acres (9.3 ha) of land at Blackburn Meadows, on which to build a sewage treatment works. In August 1884, William Bissett and Son won the contract for its construction, which was overseen by Thomas West, who acted as Clerk of Works. 100 feet (30.5 m) of standard gaugeStandard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
railway track connected the limeshed to a junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was formed by amalgamation in 1847. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension.-Origin:...
. Bissetts had completed their work by January 1886, and although £2,462 had been spent on extras, their final bill came to £23,933, which was £27 cheaper than the original contract value. Savings were made by using concrete for the foundations and bottoms of tanks, rather than brick and puddle clay.
By mid-1886, the works was complete, and the Mayor, J. W. Pye-Smith Esq, officially opened it on 2 June. The event was witnessed by members of the Council, and by invited guests, which included a representative from the London Metropolitan Board of Works. Reports at the time indicated that the sewage passed through catch pits by gravity, which allowed solids to settle, which were removed weekly. Milk of lime was then added as it flowed through mixing channels, after which it entered rectangular settling tanks. Next it passed on to a number of precipitating tanks, each holding 50000 gallons (227.3 m³), where after 30 minutes of settling, it passed over aerating weirs. Finally it ran through coke filters and was discharged into the river. Around 100 tons of sludge was removed from the precipitating tanks each day, to be pumped into ponds. Once the water had drained off, it was moved to drying beds, and was then used as manure by farmers, or was taken by rail to a tip at Kilnhurst
Kilnhurst
Kilnhurst is a village in South Yorkshire, England, on the banks of the River Don and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. It grew up around the coal mining, ceramics, glass, brick-making and locomotive industries; none of these industries remain in the village.-Residents:The sculptor...
, near Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
. Initially, there were 30 precipitating tanks and 60 aerating or filtering tanks.
The railway also developed, with the acquisition of 250 yards (228.6 m) of portable track and six tipping wagons in 1889, a steam crane later the same year, and more wagons in 1891 and 1892. The first locomotive arrived in 1898, after its purchase from the Yorkshire Engine Company
Yorkshire Engine Company
The Yorkshire Engine Company was a small independent locomotive manufacturer in Sheffield, England. The Company was formed in 1865 and continued to produce locomotives and carry out general engineering work until 1965...
. It was an 0-4-0 saddle tank, which had been built in 1875 for use as a contractor's engine, and had been refurbished by the manufacturer. A maintenance contract for the wagons lapsed in 1900, as the men at the works had become proficient at repairs.
In parallel with the construction of the works, trunk sewers were built to convey sewage from the city to the works. These was a major programme of expansion to the sewer network in 1910, to ensure that it could cope with the expected volumes of effluent produced. Because British sewers are also expected to handle rainwater, a series of storm sewage overflows were provided, which resulted in diluted sewage being discharged into the River Don in times of heavy rainfall.
Expansion
The quality of the effluent discharged into the Don was soon giving rise to concern, as the treatment process was unsatisfactory. An act of ParliamentAct of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
was obtained in 1900, which allowed Sheffield Corporation to buy an additional 105 acres (42.5 ha), on which contact beds would be built, so that the effluent could be better treated before discharge. The initial plan was costed at £367,355, which was reduced to £270,369 when secondary contact beds were removed from the scheme. The Local Government Board
Local Government Board
The Local Government Board was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919.The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local...
approved the plans on 13 May 1905, paving the way for the construction of a biological treatment system, instead of the system using lime. Logan and Hemmingway, who were contractors based at Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, won the initial contract for excavations, and also the subsequent one for the construction of six settling tanks, 24 contact tanks, and Jordan bridge, which would carry the railway over the River Don Navigation
River Don Navigation
The River Don Navigation was the result of early efforts to make the River Don in South Yorkshire, England, navigable between Fishlake and Sheffield...
. The contract was worth £41,046, and further contracts followed, which included £36,500 for 36 more contact beds and 3 settling tanks, £5,000 for excavating 40000 cubic yards (30,582.2 m³) of earth, and £36,484 for storm beds and other work, which was subsequently raised to £39,184, so that they could pay their workers at the same rate as Sheffield Corporation paid their own workmen.
The Lord Mayor opened the first part of the new works on 28 October 1909, and Sheffield Council increased the amount of land they owned for sewage treatment to 226.5 acres (91.7 ha) by buying another 81 acres (32.8 ha), on which contact beds could be constructed if required at a later date. Discharges to the river were still of poor quality, and a secondary treatment process was designed, although its implementation was delayed by the onset of the First World War. However, John Haworth became works manager in 1914, and began to experiment with ways to treat the effluent. A continuous narrow channel was constructed within a tank, and paddles were used to agitate the liquid. This allowed it to become oxygenated, which supported bacteria, allowing them to digest the sewage. The process was called bio-aeration, but became known as the "Sheffield System", and a steady stream of people came to inspect the works, both from local authorities in Great Britain and from overseas. Many of the contact beds were converted to use the new system between 1922 and 1927. The treatment process significantly reduced the biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand or B.O.D. is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period. The term also refers to a chemical procedure for...
of the effluent discharged to the river, but was not good at removing ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
, which was a major contributor to the poor water quality of the river below the works, and the destruction of the fish populations. The effluent regularly contained more than 20 mg/l of ammonia, which resulted in levels of over 10 mg/l in the river. Few fish can survive in concentrations of over 2 mg/l.
In 1915, the Corporation had made enquiries about purchasing a second-hand steam engine, approaching six locomotive manufacturers, but eventually acquired a new 0-4-0 saddle tank from Peckett and Sons
Peckett and Sons
Peckett and Sons was a locomotive manufacturer at the Atlas Works in St. George, Bristol, England.-Fox, Walker and Company:The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, Bristol, as Fox, Walker and Company, building four and six-coupled saddle tank engines for industrial use...
Ltd, which was built at their Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
works in 1918. The original engine became a spare, but was hired out to the Blackburn Meadows power station in March 1936. A year later it was condemned by the insurance company, and was sold for scrap to Maden and McKee Ltd, who were based in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. A replacement was sought, and a third 0-4-0 saddle tank, made by Hudswell Clarke
Hudswell Clarke
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-History:...
in 1914, was bought from the Olympia Oil and Cake Company at Selby. It was coupled into a goods train, and arrived at the works in July 1937. At the works, as at Selby, it carried the name Olympia, painted on the tanks. The Peckett was overhauled by the Yorkshire Engine Company at Meadow Hall Works between 1945 and 1946. Because there was a statutory obligation to keep the treatment works operational, a special dispensation was obtained during the 1926 general strike, to allow this engine to run over the main line, delivering wagons to Kilnhurst tip. Kilnhurst tip eventually became full, and in January 1948, regular tipping operations ceased, after a new tip at Thrybergh
Thrybergh
Thrybergh is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England, from Rotherham. It had a population of 4,327 in 2001...
opened. Tipping continued at Kilnshurst sporadically, until it was closed in 1959. During its operational life up to 1948, 2,917,480 tons of sewage sludge was dumped at the site. It was sold to the National Coal Board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
in 1961.
Modernisation
The entire works was upgraded between 1956 and 1969, in five distinct phases. The plan was announced in January 1956, and was expected to cost £1 million. The first phase was the construction of a filter pressing plant, for which the main contractor was Norwest Construction Co Ltd, while the actual presses and other plant were supplied by S. H. Johnson and Co Ltd. This phase was completed in 1962, and was officially opened by the Lord Mayor on 14 May 1963. The second phase consisted of a preliminary treatment plant, a storm sewage separation plant, and metering of the flows within the plant. This was completed in 1965. The third phase was split into two parts, which initially involved the building of new primary sedimentation tanks. Once these were operational in 1969, the old sedimentation tanks were converted to become temporary storm sewage tanks. This fourth phase was called phase 3b, and was completed in 1970. The final phase was the construction of a sludge incinerator, which was completed in 1969 and meant that the pressed sewage cake did not have to be taken to Thrybergh to be dumped.The railway was also upgraded at this time. Thomas Ward Ltd supplied replacement track in 1955, and a new 0-4-0 diesel electric shunter was ordered from Ruston and Hornsby Ltd
Ruston (engine builder)
Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...
in 1959. It was delivered from Lincoln on a low-loader in 1960, and was so successful that a second engine of the same type was ordered the following year. The Hudswell Clarke steam engine was cut up on site in 1962, but the Corporation wrote to Peckett's to see if they would convert the Peckett engine to diesel hydraulic transmission. Peckett's declined, and so the engine was converted at the works, by cutting off the boiler and saddle tank, and fitting a Perkins diesel engine removed from a crane. It was completed on 12 May 1962, and worked well, although it spent most of its subsequent life working at Thrybergh tip. It returned to Blackburn Meadows in 1967, and was cut up later that year. A prototype steel side-tipping wagon was ordered from Robert Hudson Ltd
Robert Hudson Ltd
Robert Hudson Ltd was a major international supplier of light railway materials, based in Gildersome, near Leeds, England. The name was later changed to Robert Hudson Ltd.- The business :...
of Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
in 1955, and a further 22 followed in 1957, to replace the original wooden wagons. Charles Roberts and Co Ltd of Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
supplied 12 more in 1958, and a further 35 in 1961, with Hudsons supplying the final 6 in 1963.
In 1976, a new diesel shunting locomotive, made by Thomas Hill
Thomas Hill (Rotherham) Ltd
Thomas Hill Limited was a company which repaired and sold steam road vehicles, diesel and electric road vehicles and railway locomotives. It later made its name building and rebuilding diesel locomotives.-History:...
of Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
was purchased. It was built at Kilnhurst, and driven along the ex-Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...
line from there to the works. The first Ruston and Hornsby engine was partially dismantled, and eventually cut up in January 1978. The connection between the works and the British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
network was cut in 1984, and the system became one of a very small number of isolated standard gauge railways. By 1986, the track layout had been simplified, and the track across Jordan bridge had been lifted. When rail operation ceased in the 1990s, one of the Hudson tipping wagons went to the National Railway Museum at Shildon
Shildon Locomotion Museum
Shildon Locomotion Museum is a railway museum in Shildon, County Durham, England. The museum is a branch of the National Railway Museum , which is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry...
, and the Thomas Hill engine, after several changes of ownership, is now located on the Peak Rail
Peak Rail
Peak Rail is a preserved railway in Derbyshire, England, which operates a steam service for tourists and visitors to both the Peak District and the Derbyshire Dales....
preserved railway at Matlock.
By the 1960s, the Sheffield sewers were inadequate for the volume of effluent, and overflowed into the river during periods of light rainfall and sometimes when there was no rainfall. Some of them had been in use for 80 years, and inspection revealed that major reconstruction was required. The solution adopted was to tunnel the Don Valley Interceptor Sewer through the Carboniferous rock beneath the existing sewers. Work began of the first phase in 1979, when 1.33 miles (2.1 km) of 18 feet (5.5 m) tunnel were built from the works to a drop shaft in Hawke Street. A new pumping station was required at Blackburn Meadows, and this phase was completed in July 1983. Over the next decade, four further phases were completed, involving the tunnelling of 1.39 miles (2.2 km) of sewer with a diamater of 12 feet (3.7 m) to a drop shaft near Furnival Road, a new sewer from Furnival Road to the Whitbread Brewery with another from the Sheaf Valley sewer to the central bus station, extension of the Don Valley sewer to Gilpin Street, and finally extension from Gilpin Street to Livesey Street in Hillsborough. As a result of this work, the capacity of the sewers was greatly increased, and 26 storm sewage overflows were closed, resulting in significant improvement to water quality in the river.
Improvements
In 1992, the problem of ammonia levels in the final effluent was addressed by the construction of a system using anoxic zones and diffuse air activated sludge treatment. This dramatically reduced ammonia levels, and was the most significant factor in the re-establishment of fish stocks in the lower River Don. In 1990, the outdated filter presshouse and incineration plant were replaced by a new sludge-dewatering plant and a fluidized-bed incineratorFluidized bed combustion
Fluidized bed combustion is a combustion technology used in power plants. Fluidized beds suspend solid fuels on upward-blowing jets of air during the combustion process. The result is a turbulent mixing of gas and solids. The tumbling action, much like a bubbling fluid, provides more effective...
. The new plant made the old sludge beds, situated to the east of the river Don and on the island formed by the Don and the Holmes Cut, redundant, and it is these that have become the nature reserve. Further improvements to the process were completed by 2005. These included an upgrade to the wet scrubbing system, in order to remove heavy metals and acid gases such as sulphur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...
, hydrogen chloride
Hydrogen chloride
The compound hydrogen chloride has the formula HCl. At room temperature, it is a colorless gas, which forms white fumes of hydrochloric acid upon contact with atmospheric humidity. Hydrogen chloride gas and hydrochloric acid are important in technology and industry...
and hydrogen fluoride
Hydrogen fluoride
Hydrogen fluoride is a chemical compound with the formula HF. This colorless gas is the principal industrial source of fluorine, often in the aqueous form as hydrofluoric acid, and thus is the precursor to many important compounds including pharmaceuticals and polymers . HF is widely used in the...
from the flue gases produced by the incinerator, and the addition of a tertiary adsorbtion filter, which removes mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
and dioxins. The improvements were designed to ensure that the plant met the standards set out in the Waste Incineration Directive
Waste Incineration Directive
The Waste Incineration Directive, more formally Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 4 December 2000 on the incineration of waste , is a Directive issued by the European Union and relates to standards and methodologies required by Europe for the practice and...
.
The outflow from the works, which passes under the River Don Navigation
River Don Navigation
The River Don Navigation was the result of early efforts to make the River Don in South Yorkshire, England, navigable between Fishlake and Sheffield...
and joins the river beside Jordans weir, has in the past been a major contributor to the pollution of the River Don, but some £70 million has been invested in upgrading the plant, to ensure that discharges to the river meet the requirements of the Freshwater Fish Directive. In dry weather, the outfall discharges 30 million gallons (136,000 m3) of treated water each day, more than doubling the flow in the river at this point.
The works was shut down on 25 June 2007, after the Don burst its banks, and the entire site was engulfed by several feet of water. It remained submerged for over a week, with much of the equiment suffering catastrophic damage. Once the water subsided, imaginative ways had to be found to return it to operation within a reasonable time. The analyser which measures emissions from the incinerator plant had been completely destroyed, and in order to mitigate a 16-week delivery time, the manufacturers removed one from a training centre at Telford, and it was hired by Yorkshire Water until a new unit could be supplied. The plant was recommissioned and operational just 18 days after its innundation.