Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of inland waterways that are contaminated by expired mine workings.

In 2021, the Environment Agency estimated that contaminated groundwater discharged from abandoned metal and coal mines was polluting more than 1,500km (3%) of rivers in England (see Mine waters: challenges for the water environment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).

In 2023, Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan outlined the Environment Act target to halve the length of rivers and estuaries polluted by cadmium, lead, nickel, zinc, copper and/or arsenic from abandoned metal mines by 2038, against an estimated baseline of around 1,500km. This baseline length of rivers and estuaries polluted by abandoned metal mines will be updated later in 2024.