Cromwell Weir flows this year.

[oboat]

With all the talk of water shortages. Can anybody tell me if Cromwell Weir has stopped running this year? 
Or if the Trent abstraction pumps, Torksey to Fossdyke have had to stop due to low water in the Trent?

[Alan de Enfield]

29 minutes ago, oboat said:

 

With all the talk of water shortages. Can anybody tell me if Cromwell Weir has stopped running this year? 
Or if the Trent abstraction pumps, Torksey to Fossdyke have had to stop due to low water in the Trent?

 

Obviously its not the River Trent, but, the weir at Nether Lock has been running well everytime we've passed it.

By the time it has rejoined the Trent (downstream of Nether lock) it will have millions of litres of additional flow joining it - I cannot imagine that Cromwell weir is "dry", but, you never know.

[ditchcrawler]

Isn't there some hydrogenerator system down there

[Wanderer Vagabond]

5 hours ago, oboat said:

 

With all the talk of water shortages. Can anybody tell me if Cromwell Weir has stopped running this year? 
Or if the Trent abstraction pumps, Torksey to Fossdyke have had to stop due to low water in the Trent?

We passed it back on 24th June and returned on 4th August, on both occasions water was passing over the weir in what seemed reasonable quantities, but there was pretty much no draw at all above the weir on the Trent, barely able to detect the flow. It's been that sort of year. The abstraction pumps were running on the Fossdyke and Witham as we went down there as well (and d*mn noisy they are as well, do they not fit exhaust silencers on them???). I don't suppose they'd stop them on the Trent below Cromwell since it's tidal so theoretically shouldn't run out of water as the tide refills it each day, they might find themselves pumping a more saline solution possibly though. 

[Naughty Cal]

There was still plenty of water flowing on the Trent last weekend. 

 

This was at Hazelford last Friday. The bottom step is visible so levels are lower than normal but still plenty of water about.

 

 

 

[Wanderer Vagabond]

10 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

There was still plenty of water flowing on the Trent last weekend. 

 

This was at Hazelford last Friday. The bottom step is visible so levels are lower than normal but still plenty of water about.

 

 

 

I'm not sure I'd go quite as far as calling it 'plenty' though. We went about 8 feet offline (going by the latest Boating Association map) and found myself riding over a sandbar that I wasn't even aware was there when travelling from Cromwell to Torksey. Cruisers were setting off from Cromwell before high tide to get to Torksey well before the level had much chance to drop, they were obviously very concerned about the lack of depth.

[Momac]

River levels have been low but the non tidal Trent remains navigable.

Water has not stopped flowing over Cromwell weir but the depth below the lock is very modest .

Recent rain has had no lasting impact.

No issues navigating ,for a narrowboat.

[Momac]

There is plenty of tidal influence at Torksey so it would take a much worse drought to influence pumping into the Fossditch.

 

But you might be more concerned, now Naughty Cal doesn't have a boat, that the number of boat movements on the Fossditch has reduced by some 50%  and I dare say if nothing changes that navigation will soon heal over due to lack of use.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

1 hour ago, MartynG said:

There is plenty of tidal influence at Torksey so it would take a much worse drought to influence pumping into the Fossditch.

 

But you might be more concerned, now Naughty Cal doesn't have a boat, that the number of boat movements on the Fossditch has reduced by some 50%  and I dare say if nothing changes that navigation will soon heal over due to lack of use.

Nah, the bit between Burton Waters and Saxilby will always be kept clear by the weekenders. The Witham below Bardney Lock however?? I think it's now being used to cultivate weed on some re-wilding programme

[Momac]

21 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

 The Witham below Bardney Lock however?? I think it's now being used to cultivate weed on some re-wilding programme

Does that  weed have any medicinal properties?

[Wanderer Vagabond]

23 minutes ago, MartynG said:

Does that  weed have any medicinal properties?

I find it raises my blood pressure a bit (when around the prop again), does that count?

[Momac]

10 hours ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I find it raises my blood pressure a bit (when around the prop again), does that count?

Its years since we have been down the Witham (present boat is too tall).

I imagine  it  is best to go early in the year, from a lack of weed perspective?

 

 

 

[oboat]

59 minutes ago, MartynG said:

Its years since we have been down the Witham (present boat is too tall).

I imagine  it  is best to go early in the year, from a lack of weed perspective?

 

 

 

I can not think of any low bridges on the Witham which one are you thinking of? 

[Wanderer Vagabond]

34 minutes ago, oboat said:

I can not think of any low bridges on the Witham which one are you thinking of? 

The 'Glory Hole' in Lincoln seems to be the limiting factor I think (not for me, but speaking with some Cruiser skippers).

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

The 'Glory Hole' in Lincoln seems to be the limiting factor I think (not for me, but speaking with some Cruiser skippers).

 

 

It certainly is, we got thru OK with the NB, but the cruiser was NO-WAY !

 

 

 

[Scholar Gypsy]

Here's the flow gauge just upstream of Cromwell

 

https://www.gaugemap.co.uk/#!Detail/130/136/2022-08-21/2022-08-27

The current reading is equivelent to about 35 cubic metres [edit: per second]  for those who prefer that unit. Small but not zero.  In imperial units, it's about 100 acre-feet per hour.

 

More gauges here:  https://trentlink.wordpress.com/documents-and-links/ 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Scholar Gypsy

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Here's the flow gauge just upstream of Cromwell

 

https://www.gaugemap.co.uk/#!Detail/130/136/2022-08-21/2022-08-27

The current reading is equivelent to about 35 cubic metres, for those who prefer that unit. Small but not zero.  In imperial units, it's about 100 acre-feet per hour.

 

More gauges here:  https://trentlink.wordpress.com/documents-and-links/ 

 

 

 

 

35 cubic metres is 35,000 litres (and is per second).

 

 

Or using the 'flow' as quoted on the link :

2,903,000,000 litres per day (not an insignificant number)

[Scholar Gypsy]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

35 cubic metres is 35,000 litres (and is per second).

 

 

Or using the 'flow' as quoted on the link :

2,903,000,000 litres per day (not an insignificant number)

Yes, sorry, I meant to type cubic metres per second.  Something very odd happened to the calibration of this gauge in April 2021, I do wonder if the current number is correct! 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Yes, sorry, I meant to type cubic metres per second.  Something very odd happened to the calibration of this gauge in April 2021, I do wonder if the current number is correct! 

 

 

 

Maybe they opened those huge sluices upstream ?

[Momac]

4 hours ago, oboat said:

I can not think of any low bridges on the Witham which one are you thinking of? 

The guillotine gate at stamp end lock , the pipe bridge just up from that  , the next road  bridge up which carries Broadgate and High Bridge which carries High Street and also known as The Glory Hole.

And the bridge on the exit of the Witham from Brayford Pool.

[Alan de Enfield]

16 minutes ago, MartynG said:

The guillotine gate at stamp end lock ,

 

 

 

[Scholar Gypsy]

A low footbridge at Bardney (June 2019!).

 

[oboat]

4 hours ago, MartynG said:

The guillotine gate at stamp end lock , the pipe bridge just up from that  , the next road  bridge up which carries Broadgate and High Bridge which carries High Street and also known as The Glory Hole.

And the bridge on the exit of the Witham from Brayford Pool.

A few very good reasons. I can understand the High Bridge which gets all the comments and it is somewhat menacing and the Brayford Br looks very low and SOLID.
However after mooring just below High Br for a few days my personal feeling was that the pipe bridge was the lower of the four. 

I just need to get out with a tape measure and check.

4 hours ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

A low footbridge at Bardney (June 2019!).

 

Minor Detail, Simon

[Scholar Gypsy]

3 minutes ago, oboat said:

 

Minor Detail, Simon

Yes, we got through just in time. The boats stuck behind us (one of whom took that photo) had to wait for a week for the floods to subside.

[Momac]

1 hour ago, oboat said:

 

I just need to get out with a tape measure and check.

 

I would go with the bridge which carries Broadgate being the lowest  but I dont think there is a lot between them. High bridge is tallest of all  at midspan but it is the arch structure that restricts wider beamed boats.