Initiative to prevent pollution of drinking water
A new initiative seeks to prevent harmful road pollution from contaminating the great majority of a city’s drinking water. According to the University of Brighton, millions of litres of water run off roadways every time it rains, carrying a hazardous mixture of oil, tyre fragments, heavy metals and microplastics.
The purpose of the Wild Park rainscape, which was constructed next to the A27 on Brighton’s outskirts, is to collect and filter contaminated runoff before it reaches the chalk aquifer, a permeable rock body that has the capacity to hold or transfer groundwater. A “largely unseen but significant pollutant, affecting rivers, wetlands, and groundwater,” according to university researchers, is this stormwater runoff. According to studies, the subterranean aquifer provides more than 90% of the city’s drinking water.
“When contaminated water from our roads seeps into the aquifer, it’s not just a scientific problem—it’s our drinking water, our children’s health, and our local environment at stake,” stated Prof. Martin Smith of the university’s faculty of applied sciences. “Projects like the Wild Park rainscape make sure the water we rely on every day is safe.” According to Brighton & Hove City Council (BHCC), the project, which had been planned for six years, involves planting trees, reed beds, wetland plants, and a wildflower meadow to collect rainfall and filter out pollutants.
The university team examined runoff from the A27 prior to construction and discovered that the water in the vicinity had higher than recommended amounts of pollutants. There were traces of chromium from road markings, lead from earlier fuels, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons from asphalt and tires. A large portion of this contamination could be stopped before it got to the soil, according to laboratory experiments. Before water from the road reaches the earth, it passes through several layers of filtration over a 1.2-mile (1.9-kilometer) path.
In the upcoming years, the university team will carry out long-term monitoring to assess the effects of the rainscape on biodiversity, pollution removal, and water quality. “The rainscape is a ground-breaking project in many ways, harnessing the power of nature to filter out pollution and protect the underground chalk aquifer which supplies much of our drinking water,” stated Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport and municipal infrastructure at BHCC. “It is helping to prevent flooding and provides a stunning new landscape for people and wildlife in Wild Park.”
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