Jump to content

The Sankey Canal, Spike Island, very low water levels!


Chloe

Featured Posts

Thought I would post this local news story. A little background - Work started on the Mersey Gateway Project on 7 May 2014. In autumn 2017 a new six lane toll bridge over the Mersey between the towns of Runcorn and Widnes will open to relieve the congested and ageing Silver Jubilee Bridge. Both the new Mersey Gateway Bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge will be tolled, but they will be free for Halton residents to cross. http://www.merseygateway.co.uk/

 

This was reported on Facebook by Steven Wall, on the 31st January, in the Mersey Gateway Construction Forum

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/merseygatewayconstruction/ - note you have to join to become a member).

 

"Can anyone help us at Spike Island Sankey Canal - we have no water in the canal boats are getting damaged no one is listening HELP!

 

On the 1st of the February Gordan Cank posted more pictures taken of the canal at spike island on 31/1/2016, showing the low level

 

of water and the amount of water flow entering from the Mersey Gateway Project, My view is that they are not pumping enough

 

water in,. This putting the fish at risk of dying, the reason no fish have been seen dead is because the herons and cormorant are feeding

and taking advantage of the low water level this needs sorting asap.

 

Normally Fidlers Ferry Power Station pumps water into the canal but this appears not to be happening. Also the official view by the construction company is that they have not completed obstructed the waterway but as you can see from the attached photo's they have.

 

Michael Gainey has sent emails to Granada Reports & Liverpool Echo and I assume people have contacted other relevant bodies..

 

See attached Photos to see problem.

post-14299-0-61286700-1454432010_thumb.jpgpost-14299-0-78342400-1454432024_thumb.jpgpost-14299-0-90120200-1454432064_thumb.jpgpost-14299-0-37628700-1454432078_thumb.jpgpost-14299-0-27862800-1454432096_thumb.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I have a "mole" in the Mersey Gateway organisation, and this is what I've learned about this:

 

Merseylink have built a temporary damn across the canal, as your photos show. They maintain a pump which pumps water around the damn to keep the levels up in the Yacht Haven.

 

Pumping has been reduced at the request of the council whilst the work on the lock was in progress.

 

The lock work has now finished, so pumping can start again a full rate, except that there's a shortage of water the other side of the damn to pump. This is blamed on either Fiddlers Ferry reducing flow, or a leaky pound higher up. Nobody seems to know which.

 

 

Cheers,

 

MP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

This has been mentioned on Friends Of The Sankey Canal Facebook, who with Scars, are trying to get the Sanakey canal fully restored including using the water from Carr Mill Dam the original water source for The Sankey Canal, the main problems are the filled in parts of The Canal like Hay Lock, but with more volunteers who could dig out the infilled parts of the canal the price of £100 million to restore the canal fully would be a lot less, Friends Of The Sankey Canal Facebook are having a meeting at Fiddlers Ferry Tavern tonight 18th October 2016 at 6.30pm. Plus St Helens council need to commit to the restoration of The Sankey Canal as well

 


I think the power station feed is further along near Fiddlers Ferry, there was certainly plenty of water at the yacht haven last week.

Does make one wonder what will happen when the power station eventually closes though.

Carr Mill Dam is the original water source for The Sankey Canal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.