Bala lake Railway.

And which, in Wales, is a sensitive issue given the state of the Usk.


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I have to admit I am a bit out of my depth when it comes to the current phosphate's debate, besides building an additional sewage works near the station, what other natural options would be available to help reduce the amount of phosphates in the water supply?

A quick up date, right I can now see what the problem is, which is basically a lack of oxygen in the water, so using technology from elsewhere how does this sound.

Construct a wind turbine that produces power, that then drives an air pump so it would be like a bit industrial version of an Air pump system used on domestic tropical fish tanks.

The other alternative would be to fit an industrial sized filtering pump that would suck out so much water from Bala Lake and then filter it by removing the phosphates, before returning the cleaned water back to the lake.

 

Wonder if there is an option for a closed system tank and do a suck-and-truck to onwards disposal.

Chris

 

It's not just the BLR's proposed station, but all the extra [hopefully !] visitors to Bala itself [accommodation, pubs, cafes etc] that will affect phosphate levels.

Maybe Welsh Water need to consider updating / enlarging the waste water treatment for Bala.


Oh, for information [@lynbarn] aeration plant was tried at Kielder Water ... sediment levels soon made that impractical, so much silt was deposited that the system was blocked.
Maybe some fountains and weirs to improve oxygenation levels.

 

Thanks didn't know about that

 

It depends what outcome is sought, I would have thought. Aeration will make no difference to phosphate levels per se but phosphates lead to algal growth which depletes oxygen levels. The alternative is to treat the water to remove the phosphate, this can be done using iron, calcium or aluminium salts to remove phosphorus from the water. Phosphates create precipitates with metal ions and are removed with sludge in the separation unit. It seems to me to be likely that this is the approach that will be taken and will require a specialist water treatment plant to be built (or an existing one modified/upgraded), but it won't be just for the BLR, it'll be for the area as a whole. In terms of the area affected, in fact, it'll probably involve several plants, so might take a while and cost a lot.

 

Would anyone care to guess just how much such a plant would cost, as you say one by itself may not be enough but if such a scheme was costed out properly and it was something that needed to be done in order for the Bala Lake Railway to reach into Bala itself, I am sure it could be sold to those that want to see the railway extended donation wise.

 

That misses the point - the issue about phosphates is about the overall effect, not just the output from the railway itself.


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No I get that, my point being is a what if it became an issue that needs to be build as part of the railways development?

 

I think it would be very difficult for the water authority, EA or whoever to impose a requirement for any single small organisation such as the BLR to provide their own individual water treatment plant - large industrial concerns perhaps but a low level polluter? I would imagine that agricultural uses provide far more of a challenge. It's more likely to be a question of being patient whilst the water companies and authorities formulate a plan.

 

Yeah no, this has nothing to do with 'petty officials' or some co-ordinated attempt to derail transport in Wales. Your politics might be showing a little there Bob

 

Sadly the WAG does not seem to like electric cars either. The North Wales Coast Expressway (A55) lacks decent working chargers at service areas from Holyhead to Deeside.
I agree with the comments regarding pointless speed restrictions too. All they seem to do is needlessly bunch traffic up causing pollution hotspots, especially round Wrexham and Deeside.
The speed limits on Rhuallt Hill (westbound) and Aston Hill (eastbound) are such that it is impossible to gain any regeneration.

 

Have they considered one of those models of an old diver in a rigid suit that lets out bubbles?

 

Are you volunteering?

 

With the second mention of the Assembly in this thread I now feel I need to post my obligatory 'there hasn't been a Welsh Assembly for three years now' post

 

Are you?
You seem to be very good at telling others what should be done, how to spend money they dont have and how they're not doing anything correctly, but I've yet to hear of any of your railway achievements or commendations.

 

Keith it was a joke

 

If you had been about in the early days of the L&BR Association you would have your answers.

But just in case you don't know I was the first person to buy some rail for the L&BR project, I also got the Thorpe park carriages that both the Lynbarn and Woody Bay used to get the railway up and running, I brought into the LYN Project as the last bit I offered. I also contributed to the LYD project so don't get annoyed but I ask you the same question what have you done for the L&BR or other railways?

 

To be honest Peter most of the folk at Woody Bay don't want to get involved in the politics, they just want to get on with running a railway. But this is taking up thread space which is not appropriate for here, The Bala lake railway will have its own problems to deal with soon enough and all we can do is to support them as best we can.