Water Restrictions on the L&L Already

[Mac of Cygnet]

Several flights padlocked from 6PM to 10AM https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/13376/leeds-and-liverpool-canal-barrowford-greenberfield-bank-newton-and-gargrave

 

This is all of course due to the boating and other travel jinx I have been carrying for the past few months, which has so far caused the Marple Locks closure, the Maghull breach, two West Coast Main Line stoppages, two bus accidents/breakdowns, and yesterday a broken gear cable 2/3 of the way up the Wigan flight.  As the chap on the other boat said as we tied the boats together: "Just let me know if you book a flight anytime, will you?"

Edited June 29, 2018 by Mac of Cygnet

[PaulJ]

All the lockies on the way through from Wigan to Leeds were saying water was getting a bit short unless it rained pdq. At Newlay they were getting boats to wait until another boat came along to mininmise lock movements. 

Photo here of Barrowford reservoir- it was a good few steps down to the water..

[Guest]

A couple of the pounds around Gargrave and Bank Newton looked low last weekend and even the level at Saltaire looked low.

[Athy]

Here in the Fens no rain is forecast until after July 12th (which is as far as the BBC long range forecast goes) but Well Creek's water level appears normal. I checked the forecast for Cropredy too, and a mere sneeze of rain is expected a week today, but none before or after that.

 

Let's have a good old British July downpour so that we can all moan about what a lousy summer it is.

[BruceinSanity]

AIUI, the L&L's problem is that it's lost several of the original supply reservoirs because they were bagged by local councils for domestic water supply, so it's very vulnerable to a dry spell. I don't think there's much of a problem across the rest of the system, yet.

[nbfiresprite]

45 minutes ago, Athy said:

Here in the Fens no rain is forecast until after July 12th (which is as far as the BBC long range forecast goes) but Well Creek's water level appears normal.

 

Only because the Middle Level have remembered to stick a quid in the meter at Mullicourt Aqueduct for the pump.

[Pluto]

1 hour ago, BruceinSanity said:

AIUI, the L&L's problem is that it's lost several of the original supply reservoirs because they were bagged by local councils for domestic water supply, so it's very vulnerable to a dry spell. I don't think there's much of a problem across the rest of the system, yet.

Sorry, but you are thinking about the Rochdale Canal. The L&LC still has all its original reservoirs, the only difference is that over the last ten years or so the EA have been a bit stricter on their compensation water from Winterburn, and the supply from the River Douglas. The most heavily used section, from Bingley to Barrowford has around the same number of boats passing locks as there were in commercial days, though that number is only about 10% of the total traffic on the canal 100 years or so ago. This graph shows how water supply has increased since the canal was opened, with the level of usage today.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Do canal supply reservoirs ever get dredged? The must be slowly silting up all the time, just as canals are, with soil carried in from the surrounding hills, leaf mould, shopping trolleys and the rest. I can't recall CaRT ever announcing they are dredging a reservoir. Draining and repairing occasionally yes, but dredging no. Does it happen? Just how much below their original capacity are they after two centuries?

Similarly short pounds in lock flights are often full of mud outside the channel that boats maintain. Are they ever dredged away from the main channel? This makes a huge difference to the rise and fall in levels as boats go up and down. I am thinking particularly of the Marple flight. Very deep locks, very short pounds full of mud, though this flight has other, more urgent problems at the moment.

 

Jen

[BruceinSanity]

3 hours ago, Pluto said:

Sorry, but you are thinking about the Rochdale Canal. The L&LC still has all its original reservoirs

Thank you for that, I stand dejected ?

[Aguila]

Bit of a joke as water is gushing over two over-flows between the Crooke Hall Inn and Dean Locks today. (

 

The 'lost' water is flowing into the River Douglas. 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

I don't think there's much of a problem across the rest of the system, yet.

The Weaver is almost closed down with restricted lockings, the Anderton Boat Lift cannot operate if the water levels drop any lower.

[Señor Chris]

8 hours ago, BruceinSanity said:

I don't think there's much of a problem across the rest of the system, yet.

Several low pounds on the Rochdale - some requiring water run down to free stuck boats. Summit pound looked about 2ft down yesterday.

 

[Pluto]

This was Foulridge Upper an hour ago. The stonework is from a boat house which stood in the upper section of this reservoir, the photo being taken from a road embankment crossing the reservoir. A boat house still survives in the lower section. At least the cows seem to be enjoying the low water level.

[ditchcrawler]

On 29/06/2018 at 12:30, PaulJ said:

All the lockies on the way through from Wigan to Leeds were saying water was getting a bit short unless it rained pdq. At Newlay they were getting boats to wait until another boat came along to mininmise lock movements. 

Photo here of Barrowford reservoir- it was a good few steps down to the water..

 

It wasn't full in the spring

[Pluto]

20 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

It wasn't full in the spring

In the spring, they were undertaking repairs to bring it up to modern reservoir safety standards, and after they had finished it was definitely full as water was coming down the overflow. Winterburn is used first for supplying water, but can only be about half emptied as there is a requirement to supply compensation water for maintaining Eshton Beck and for the River Aire. Winterburn refills quicker than the other reservoirs. Next Foulridge Upper and White Moor are used, and when they are getting down, Slipper Hill is added. Foulridge Lower is kept till last so that the sailing club, which rents the reservoir, does not have to be compensated because of low water levels. Barrowford and Rishton only supply the Lancashire end of the canal, the former being filled by the excess flowing into the canal after heavy rain, etc. It usually takes the whole of winter to bring the reservoir levels back up full, apart from Winterburn, which has a larger catchment area.