The Drought - how long can we keep going?

[koukouvagia]

We've already reconciled ourselves to a season of very little boating, because even if we get off the Tring Summit, returning in September or October may be problematical. BW is trying to keep things going as long as possible and all their maintenance resources are directed to conserving and eking out the the very limited water supplies.

 

At a meeting with local boaters and businesses on Saturday, Jeff Whyatt, the SE manager listed some of the current measures being taken to combat the drought.

 

Braunston: back pumping. A temporary generator is being used because the electricity supply is not yet in place.

Radford – Calcutt: adjustment of weir levels and pump renewal.

Priors Hardwick: not much can be done because the feeder has dried up.

Wormleighton reservoir: this is being re-charged.

River Tove: new flow meter will ensure that the extraction licence is used to best effect.

10 Northern Engines refurbishment and renewal: back pumping from the Ouse valley to Tring summit.

SCADA – (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition): this means that back pumping can be controlled more efficiently from a single central location.

Tring Summit: closure and lowering of level to reduce water seepage.

Weston Turville reservoir. There is a surplus which runs off. This is being captured and pumped across fields for a distance of 450meters, to feed the Wendover Arm.

Wendover: weed clearance to make sure that feeder water is not clogged up.

 

We can forget about lock painting,towpath maintenance etc. for the moment. All the available man power is concentrated on water management.

We can expect some pounds to be low and there will be delays until water balancing kicks in and restores the levels.

 

I'm often very critical of BW, but during this crisis they do seem to be pulling out all the stops.

 

I wonder whether boating festivals such as Crick and Braunston can be expected to go ahead on the same scale as in previous years? I'm certainly not expecting to be able to take our pair to Braunston – which is a great pity since the butty will be celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year.

 

BW is shortly going to publish a map showing Red, Amber and Green areas and hopes that boaters will stick to Green routes.

Also BW will man 12 critical sites to ensure that locks are shared. The 10 till 3 openings times will also come into effect.

Edited February 27, 2012 by koukouvagia

[Athy]

Sounds like a cue for several weeks of heavy rainfall.

[alan_fincher]

The only bit I really don't understand, Jim is......

 

I think they have claimed that it took until no significant boat movements in the summer to realise just how mach water was being lost in Tring summit. That is something it is hard to challenge one way or the other I guess. We just have to take that one at face value.

 

What must surely have been known is that last summer the Marsworth reservoir group was severely depleted, and that even a "normal" winter was unlikely to get it back into any reliable shape.

 

And yet they played out the whole of the last boating "season", (their term!), with no restrictions at any lock in the area, and no great efforts made to get people to share, and to minimise water usage.

 

Surely the type of measures they are now talking about should have been in place no later than about the middle of last summer. Nobody should be in any way surprised we have ended up where we are, as you could see it coming. (Anybody walking around the reservoirs should have been able to see it coming........). Had we gone into the winter with more water in the reservoirs, we must surely have come out of it in a better place too ?

 

Sounds like a cue for several weeks of heavy rainfall.

If you had been at the meeting, you would know even that will not avoid severe restrictions in the South East for a long while to come.

 

The prognosis didn't get a lot better if it does rain for weeks!

 

Some sensible questions got asked, such as "will BW stop forcing local CCers in the area to move on from time to aime, given that they are saying that every lock-full of water saved is a bonus!".

[koukouvagia]

 

What must surely have been known is that last summer the Marsworth reservoir group was severely depleted, and that even a "normal" winter was unlikely to get it back into any reliable shape.

 

And yet they played out the whole of the last boating "season", (their term!), with no restrictions at any lock in the area, and no great efforts made to get people to share, and to minimise water usage.

 

 

Couldn't agree more. And this is certainly what the BW chaps on the ground were saying.

 

 

BTW I've edited my post. from "end of the season" to "September/October". I don't want to give weight to the view held by some in the BW hierarchy that there is a closed season when all navigation stops.

[Keeping Up]

BTW I've edited my post. from "end of the season" to "September/October". I don't want to give weight to the view held by some in the BW hierarchy that there is a closed season when all navigation stops.

 

[Athy]

?

 

 

If you had been at the meeting, you would know even that will not avoid severe restrictions in the South East for a long while to come.

 

The prognosis didn't get a lot better if it does rain for weeks!

 

 

So, first they told us that sustained heavy rainfall would top up the local reservoirs and ensure good water levels.

Now they tell us that sustained heavy rainfall will not achieve this.

Either they're 'avin' a larf or April Fool's Day has come early this year.

[koukouvagia]

So, first they told us that sustained heavy rainfall would top up the local reservoirs and ensure good water levels.

Now they tell us that sustained heavy rainfall will not achieve this.

Either they're 'avin' a larf or April Fool's Day has come early this year.

 

It's not the reservoirs that's the major problem. It's the water table. Even if the reservoirs fill up to the brim in the next few weeks (pretty impossible, I'd say) the water table will take much longer to replenish. Until that happens 250 lockfuls of water will be lost from the summit each week unless the level of the summit is kept to about -250 to -350mm.

[Smelly]

Sounds like a cue for several weeks of heavy rainfall.

 

I'm out at the end of March... Consider it done!

[alan_fincher]

BW is shortly going to publish a map showing Red, Amber and Green areas and hopes that boaters will stick to Green routes.

Also BW will man 12 critical sites to ensure that locks are shared. The 10 till 3 openings times will also come into effect.

Did you notice though that things like the Birmingham line, including Calcutt Locks were a "green route".

 

Those would be the Calcutt locks they introduced restrictions on towards the end of last summer, even though this summer is predicted as going to be a whole heap worse.

[scrumpylurcher]

It is interesting that they say there is a electrical supply problem for back pumping at Braunston, I assume this is for the pumps at bottom lock for which they have just installed wiring. The pumps were installed 7 or 8 years ago.

[Ray]

Snip!

 

Some sensible questions got asked, such as "will BW stop forcing local CCers in the area to move on from time to aime, given that they are saying that every lock-full of water saved is a bonus!".

 

And the answer from BW was?

 

Reluctantly I'd agree to minmal CM movement provided they weren't blocking timed public moorings so that those who can go cruising can visit the places that they actually want to.

 

We mustn't forget that the many canalside businesses also need to survive through any period of limited movement ability if they're to be there when normal service finally resumes.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Did you notice though that things like the Birmingham line, including Calcutt Locks were a "green route".

 

Those would be the Calcutt locks they introduced restrictions on towards the end of last summer, even though this summer is predicted as going to be a whole heap worse.

 

As the Calcutt hire boat fleet moors between the the middle and top lock and they also have a service bay located there, I would imagine any restrictions cause problems. Then there are the two double marinas (both Calcutt Boats and Ventnor Farm have opened second marinas) immediately below the locks and another two not far above both with hire fleets.

 

I guess restrictions at Calcutt will only be brought into play when the situation gets really bad

 

As a point of interest, I was told some years back by a retired BW lengthsman (remember them?)that water was never taken from the reservoir on the offside above Calcutt Boats since back pumping was introduced at Calcutt locks. Does anyone know if this is true or not?

[alan_fincher]

I guess restrictions at Calcutt will only be brought into play when the situation gets really bad

I can't recall from saturday's meeting whether Calcutt is one of the sites they say will be locked other than between 10:00 to 15:00.

 

I don't know if Jim recorded which sites this applies to ?

 

If not, I guess wait and see what they actually issue.

 

Make no mistake though, the Marsworth / Tring Summit thing has it's own special set of circumstances, but you can expect to see fairly draconian measures coming in on at least the Southern GU, the South and North Oxford, and the Leicester, as all have only about half the water predicted to be in the reservoirs that we had at the start of last year's (again their term!) "boating" season.

 

I doubt any back pump can cope with the volume of traffic those Calcutt locks would pass at a busy time, if not restricted, but I'll freely admit I don't actually know how back pump capability stacks up against intensive use.

[Chalky]

The levels at Fenny Compton were down yesterday - I wonder if the water was going into Wormleighton reservoir. One of the biggest uses of water on the South Oxford summit is the annual pilgrimage to Cropredy in August.

 

I wonder if there'll be any BW / CaRT imposed restrictions on the big festivals this year?