Slurry lagoon lining in the West Midlands

Where the lagoons are

North Shropshire and the Cheshire border, the Staffordshire Moorlands around Leek, and the grassland of Herefordshire carry most of the region's dairy and beef herds. Farm-scale AD plants in the same counties produce digestate that also needs lined storage.

Herefordshire's Wye and Lugg are protected rivers, and the Severn, the Teme and the Dove all pass through farmed land. When a store fails, the slurry is in a watercourse within hours, so the standard of the lining is what the inspector looks at.

The ground varies as much as the farming. Sandstone in north Shropshire and east Staffordshire lets liquid through quickly, while the Herefordshire marls hold it but crack when banks dry out. Neither is a safe floor for slurry on its own, and an older bank that has held for years can still start to weep after one dry summer.

Bodymoor Heath: 2,000m² in LLDPE

Our nearest lagoon job sits a few miles from the Tamworth yard: a 2,000m² farm store for slurry and wastewater at Bodymoor Heath, in north Warwickshire. A 300g/m² protection geotextile went onto the prepared formation first. The LLDPE sheet was welded over it into one sealed skin, and a matching geotextile was laid on top to shield it from stones and stock.

Heavy rain arrived midway through the install, which is never welcome when you are welding. We resequenced the work around the wet spells, ran final checks across the whole lining and completed on time in 2025. The lagoon is now in use.

Choosing the build-up

Capacity, freeboard and the liner system are fixed by the design against the storage rules before materials are ordered. We install from the simple to the fully monitored.

• Single welded liner on non-woven fleece
• Double-lined HDPE or LLDPE with a drainage layer and leak-detection point
• Floating cover over either, where specified
• Inlet, suction and gauge points booted into the sheet

Before and after our visit

Your earthworks contractor builds the banks and digs the anchor trench at the crest. Before our lorry is booked, we compare their profile with the lining design and flag any slope, corner or trench that would stop the sheet sitting properly.

After the last weld, the farm is left with a trial weld on record and a compliance file: what was installed, how each seam was tested and where everything sits. Inspectors and insurers ask for exactly that, and so may anyone who buys the holding later.