Paddington Arm - Litter problem

[Martin Megson]

Just cruised the Paddington arm and the mid section between bridges 18 and 9 is absolutely covered in litter, mainly carrier bags. Apparently it arrived during the gales earlier in the year. I've been down the weed hatch so many times I'm thinking of fitting a revolving door.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Meggers

[Lady Muck]

London Boaters are trying to arrange volunteers to do a clean up with CRT, you're not the only one struggling apparently!

[magnetman]

Arrived during the gales ? From where? A supermarket carrier bag storage facility? It happened with mattresses somewhere where they blew out of bins but carrier bags seems like littering. I know there is quite a severe littering 'issue' in certain parts of west London but boaters actually struggling with it is worrying

 

Feed the birds then take.your.plastic.bag.home. please

 

[Martin Megson]

Arrived during the gales ? From where? A supermarket carrier bag storage facility? It happened with mattresses somewhere where they blew out of bins but carrier bags seems like littering. I know there is quite a severe littering 'issue' in certain parts of west London but boaters actually struggling with it is worrying

 

Feed the birds then take.your.plastic.bag.home. please

 

Possibly from the large waste recycling centre nearby. And as you can see it is causing boaters to struggle

 

Edited March 31, 2014 by Meggers

[magnetman]

Looks like a job for the taranchewer but its at Bow Licks AFAIK bit far east... think BW had a similar thing around Bulls bridge not sure its still about.?

[junior]

That's arrived recently. I've moored in west London on the Paddington Arm since last October and have never seen it that bad, although it is generally a messy canal with a litter problem.

[matty40s]

Used to get like that near West Drayton, I used to go to neutral and steer towards bank ........then pull.

[magnetman]

Bow Locks

 

Taranchewer is the 2nd pic on this link

 

http://m.digitaljournal.com/article/88158

 

Its got a rolling 'slipway' on one end so detritus drifts into it quite comfortably

[Martin Megson]

I noticed something similar in CRT blue moored in Little Venice so maybe they era about to begin clearing it up.

[Mike Todd]

Just cruised the Paddington arm and the mid section between bridges 18 and 9 is absolutely covered in litter, mainly carrier bags. Apparently it arrived during the gales earlier in the year. I've been down the weed hatch so many times I'm thinking of fitting a revolving door.

We also came down yesterday and made even slower progress than Mr Bunbury! Four times down the weed hatch inclouding one where the plastic had trapped a shirt tat twisted itself strnger than a rope.

 

We have been this way for several years and never seen it this bad or anything like it. We are moored just before Little Venice and can see the detritus drifting slowly downstream. Strangely there are no floating drinks cans. usually these days where there is a problem of general litter, the floating stuff contains plenty of cans. Our thought was that thyere must be a 'pollution' source.

[mark99]

Our thought was that thyere must be a 'pollution' source.

 

 

I hope CaRT sticks them with a bill for clean up.

Edited April 1, 2014 by mark99

[sueb]

Has anyone spoken to Cart? What have they said?

[Dekazer]

That looks to me like the annual float up of litter that has been on the bottom of the canal for months.

 

I've been told that degrading detritus on the canal bed (leaves, dead things etc) create gases and when the temperature changes the crud all bubbles to the top. This happened at least annually when we were on the canal. An old neighbour of ours called it The Churn. Felt quite apt.

 

In my experience it tended to affect certain areas worse than others - I've certainly seen Hayes and Bulls Bridge that bad, and Scrubs Lane. Southall got pretty grubby at that time, as did Northolt. It's bloody awful, but not a result of a lot of litter being dumped at one time. Rather, it's the reappearance of months' worth of litter that's been blown or thrown in. Disgraceful really. All power to those clearing it up!

 

Lucy

[roggie]

Got through from LV to Denham without having to clar the weed hatch - must be lucky. Did comment to ourselves about the amount of rubbish in the cut - also the lack of wastebins on most parts of the canal. Some people seem to think the canal is just like a litter bib...only a bit bigger.

[Black Ibis]

That looks to me like the annual float up of litter that has been on the bottom of the canal for months.

 

I've been told that degrading detritus on the canal bed (leaves, dead things etc) create gases and when the temperature changes the crud all bubbles to the top. This happened at least annually when we were on the canal. An old neighbour of ours called it The Churn. Felt quite apt.

 

In my experience it tended to affect certain areas worse than others - I've certainly seen Hayes and Bulls Bridge that bad, and Scrubs Lane. Southall got pretty grubby at that time, as did Northolt. It's bloody awful, but not a result of a lot of litter being dumped at one time. Rather, it's the reappearance of months' worth of litter that's been blown or thrown in. Disgraceful really. All power to those clearing it up!

 

Lucy

Sounds like a plausible explanation. We get similar around here, but thankfully it'd mostly just vegetation that floats to the top. Looks pretty grimy though, and since it has the appearance of poo, either the boaters or the travellers' site tend to get blamed for dumping sewage.

[Dekazer]

Sounds like a plausible explanation. We get similar around here, but thankfully it'd mostly just vegetation that floats to the top. Looks pretty grimy though, and since it has the appearance of poo, either the boaters or the travellers' site tend to get blamed for dumping sewage.

 

It's frustrating isn't it? There's such a volume, and it comes up overnight usually, so it's hard to imagine what sort of massive dump (excuse the pun!) would have had to have taken place! Having said that, the Lea's currently being badly affected by pollution from cooking oil being dumped in the river - many many birds have had to be rescued, and many have died.

 

Every year the churn prompts threads like this, and every year it's a stark reminder of how much litter does get dumped in the canal. At Southall I used to pull out at least 3 bin bags/recycling bags a week, and in summer could easily do more. Much of the litter sinks though, and it's this that resurfaces during the churn.

[Martin Megson]

 

It's frustrating isn't it? There's such a volume, and it comes up overnight usually, so it's hard to imagine what sort of massive dump (excuse the pun!) would have had to have taken place! Having said that, the Lea's currently being badly affected by pollution from cooking oil being dumped in the river - many many birds have had to be rescued, and many have died.

 

Every year the churn prompts threads like this, and every year it's a stark reminder of how much litter does get dumped in the canal. At Southall I used to pull out at least 3 bin bags/recycling bags a week, and in summer could easily do more. Much of the litter sinks though, and it's this that resurfaces during the churn.

 

Thanks for the info on "The Churn" not a phenomena I was aware of. It sounds plausible as most of the rubbish didn't look fresh, if that makes sense. Looked liked it had been in the cut a while.

[WJM]

Brentford to Hanwell seems to be experiencing the same phenomena now, lots of old rotting leaves and vegetation floating on the surface.

[Wanted]

Brentford to Hanwell seems to be experiencing the same phenomena now, lots of old rotting leaves and vegetation floating on the surface.

Yes, loads of rubbish as well, the coal bags make me the angriest!

[homer2911]

That looks to me like the annual float up of litter that has been on the bottom of the canal for months.

 

I've been told that degrading detritus on the canal bed (leaves, dead things etc) create gases and when the temperature changes the crud all bubbles to the top. This happened at least annually when we were on the canal. An old neighbour of ours called it The Churn. Felt quite apt.

 

In my experience it tended to affect certain areas worse than others - I've certainly seen Hayes and Bulls Bridge that bad, and Scrubs Lane. Southall got pretty grubby at that time, as did Northolt. It's bloody awful, but not a result of a lot of litter being dumped at one time. Rather, it's the reappearance of months' worth of litter that's been blown or thrown in. Disgraceful really. All power to those clearing it up!

 

Lucy

Coconuts! No-one's mentioned coconuts - dozens of them floating around Bulls Bridge and on up the arm. Something to do with Hindu burials, I was once told.

[Athy]

Rather more cheerful I believe: the coconuts are used during Hindu wedding ceremonies.

 

Reminds me of a joke I heard in New Zealand:

"What's a Hindu?"

- "Lays igs".

[WJM]

Coconuts! No-one's mentioned coconuts - dozens of them floating around Bulls Bridge and on up the arm. Something to do with Hindu burials, I was once told.

Not burials - just funeral services. The coconuts are sometimes elaborately decorated and tossed into the canal with flowers and sometimes brightly illustrated calendars.

[Wanted]

We see quite a few coconuts and flower garlands down in Brentford, they make their way from southall where I believe they are thrown in the cut as a substitute Ganges, all part of the wonderful melting pot that is London.

 

I think Richard (RWLP) once opened or saw a coconut opened and believed to contain ashes. I think that was him?

[Mike Todd]

Just to update. We came back along the Paddington branch today and found the water remarkably clear of rubbish. No trips down the weed hatch at all. Even the polystyrene junk seems to have all but vanished so I wonder if the weed harvester moored at Little Venice has been deployed. At least the worry that the original problem denoted an alarming trend seems not so well founded after all.

[junior]

I was chatting to a CRT guy in London on Wednesday about 'the churn' and he said they managed to get rid of some of it but most of it just sank back down to the bottom.