Canal & River Trust Toddbrook Reservoir Update

[Ray T]

PRESS RELEASE 

Issued 16 August 2019

 

The Canal & River Trust charity, which manages the Toddbrook Reservoir as part of its 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, this week took over responsibility for the reservoir site around the damaged dam from the emergency services.

 

In conjunction with its contractor Kier, work continues on the reservoir, near Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire, as experts carry out a full inspection and prepare plans for repairing the dam.

 

Water levels are being continuously monitored with pumps in place to keep the reservoir near empty by removing any rainwater that falls. Over the next couple of months the low water levels will gradually be reduced even further allowing most of the estimated 30,000 fish present (about 5,000kg) to be removed.

 

Rob Jowitt will be managing the repair project for the Canal & River Trust. He added: “Moving on from the emergency response, our job is to find out what went wrong and prepare a detailed plan for repairing the damaged dam wall. It is a huge job which is likely to take some time.

 

“As the emergency services leave the site, we want to assure the local community that the reservoir is safe and the dam wall is secure. Local people have been amazing during the emergency and we want to keep them to be up to date and part of the project moving forwards.

 

“As soon as we have a detailed design plan, we will be sharing it with everyone and inviting people on site to special open days to see what is being done.”

 

An initial fish rescue has taken place and a second major phase will take place in mid-October when the weather is cooler and better for the health of the fish. Coarse fish, such as bream, roach, perch and pike, have been captured in large nets by the Trust’s fish specialists and then transported to another Trust reservoir, Upper Bittell Reservoir, near Birmingham. Upper Bittell Reservoir, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), like Toddbrook, was drained and then refilled after maintenance works two years ago and is in a good position to re-home large numbers of fish.

 

Paul Breslin, fisheries officer with the Canal & River Trust, said: “We want to save as many fish as we possibly can. We have installed aeration pumps to provide the fish with extra oxygen in the water. The middle of summer is not an ideal time to move fish, as they can get distressed by the heat, but we are working hard to do our very best for the wildlife caught up in this emergency.”

 

About the emergency

 

More than 1,500 residents of Whaley Bridge were evacuated from their homes on Thursday 1 August for six nights after the Toddbrook Dam threatened to breach after a period of excessive rainfall.

 

A major, round-the-clock response from the emergency services, including Derbyshire Fire & Rescue, Derbyshire Police and the Environment Agency, working with the Trust, managed to avert disaster and stabilise the dam wall. Residents were allowed back into their homes on Wednesday 7 August.

 

The Trust is posting regular updates at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/toddbrook-reservoir-update

 

ENDS

 

For further media requests please contact:

Helen Hall,

m 077177 760284 e helen.hall@canalrivertrust.org.uk

NW Communications Managers, Canal & River Trust

[Boater Sam]

Totally as expected.

[Paul C]

I see they've pre-empted killing half the fish in the process.

 

Best plan would involve some dynamite.

[Boater Sam]

1 minute ago, Paul C said:

I see they've pre-empted killing half the fish in the process.

 

Best plan would involve some dynamite.

Electric fencer unit will do.

[Tony Brooks]

40 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

Electric fencer unit will do.

I think Paul had dynamite & the dam on his mimd, not dynamite & fish but may be wrong.

[Boater Sam]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

I think Paul had dynamite & the dam on his mimd, not dynamite & fish but may be wrong.

I thought my repair methods were drastic!?

[Heartland]

I hope they will discover what the issues were. Certainly there were issues when the reservoir was built. When work started in 1836 with William Collinge making the embankment and Richard & William Walker undertaking the stone work. Issue with leakages at the original site led to William Mackenzie being called in to advise on the scheme (1837). His recommendations led to the site of the present dam. William Mackenzie was a contractor and engineer of note being responsible, as resident engineer, for the Smethwick Deep Cutting of the BCN   

[billS]

Rob Jowlett is quoted in the Telegraph today as saying about the repair  "I don't know if it will costs tens, hundreds or thousands of millions"

 

I think if I was a contractor I would be rubbing my hands at the moment to be dealing with a CRT manager who thinks it is conceivable that the bill could run to billions... 

 

Good grief!

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by billS

[Heartland]

I think if I was a contractor I would be rubbing my hands at the moment to be dealing with a CRT manager who thinks it is conceivable that the bill could run to billions... 

 

Good grief!

 

It is perhaps too early to assume a gullible manager might make such a decision, yet there are certain pressures on CRT to ensure the safety of the people living at Whalley Bridge and this is the issue central, I suppose, to what work is done.