Swansea Barrage

The turbine serves a dual use: acting as a power generator for the National Grid as well as being used to pump water back into the Tawe river system.

[3] Salt water that came in at high spring tides sank to the bottom and stayed there, reducing oxygen levels.

The system was based on a diffuser design and propeller mixer, which proved highly effective at exporting the salt water from the deep area of the trial site and raising dissolved oxygen concentrations at the bed.

Following the success of the River Tawe aeration scheme, the city of Cardiff used the same method to improve the quality of the water in its newly created bay.

Other fears that arose with the building of the barrage such as the raising of the water table causing ground subsidence problems in the low-lying areas around the River Tawe did not materialize.