Mine Water Treatment Scheme Operational and Maintenance Contract

In partnership with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Environment Agency (EA), Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the Coal Authority delivers a program of Water Treatment facilities covering 70+ mine water treatment schemes across England, Scotland and Wales.

The Coal Authority seeks to let an Operational and Maintenance contract for the management of these sites, additional assets and over 700 data sampling points across England, Scotland and Wales. The existing contract ends on 31st December 2024

The duration of the contract is expected to be 10 years, potentially with break clauses during that time.

Mine water treatment schemes vary in design depending on the composition of the mine water, the land available, planning constraints and latest technology. The Coal Authority use standard designs where appropriate, however each site is individually customised to meet local requirements and constraints.

The contract will require operation & maintenance of sites

In addition to plant there is a mixture of buildings and infrastructure, storage facilities and satellite offices to be managed. The sites are operational 24hrs a day, there is the requirement for stand-by support over evenings & weekends, including response times.

In excess of 30 new schemes are expected to be designed and built by the Coal Authority over the contract period, the design and build is excluded from the contract but expertise from the contractor may be sought to support and review the design for suitability from an operational viewpoint.

In a typical year the facilities treat over 128 billion litres of mine water and to ensure water quality is compliant with consents they consume over 150t of hydrated lime and over 50t of Limesol liquid lime, 3t of polymer, over 1000t of Sodium Hydroxide (47% mainly with some 20% concentration) and over 250t of Hydrogen Peroxide.

The service required under this contract is the operational, planned and preventative maintenance to the mine water treatment schemes, including but not limited to:

• Compliance with regulatory consents
• Adhering to health, safety and environmental standards
• Checks on treatment schemes, adjusting water levels to ensure optimum performance
• 24hr reactive response to incidents involving site failures
• Maintenance activities
• Pump lifts & equipment replacement
• Adjustments to the treatment process to ensure efficient use of chemicals & power
• Procuring chemicals & supervising delivery
• Water sampling & flow measuring data gathering/capture,
• Reporting on operational costs, safety statistics, risks and performance trends.

Additional services that could be instructed may include:

• Management of capital projects
• Managing, supervising & assisting in research and development projects
• Managing, supervising & operating pumping tests

The Coal Authority are committed to becoming a more sustainable organisation (environmental and social) & want to use our work to help deliver positive change in the communities we support. We have an ambition to be a net zero organisation by 2030 and we will continue to decarbonise our activities. The delivery of the services will be critical to achieve these ambitions & our sustainable targets.

The Coal Authority also wish to explore the option of a design build & operate model. As indicated above there is the potential for construction of 30 new schemes over this period and the refurbishment of current schemes that require civil engineering activities.

The anticipated time for the issue of tender documents is mid-June 2023.