Draw Off ?

teddington_lock

teddington_lock

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 Oct 2007
Messages
2,205
Location
Teddington
Visit site
Well , the draw off doesn't seem to be having much of an impact at Tedders ...

We haven't dropped below 8' 10" , we have one small radial gate open , but this shouldn't add more than 6" to the tailwater level.

Normal draw off levels for us are approx 6' , so we have three feet of extra water on our tail.

Any of the Eel Pie Island crew noticing anything different down there ? Cuchilo ? Forbsie ?

We are hearing tales of a big sandbank just upstream of Eel Pie that may be holding it back , any truth in this ?
 
Interesting !

H,mm,what happens if the tail end of Sandy manages to reach here ?Surges not likely to reach that level but assume we have some sort of early warning planning/reaction in force ?
Have a few half baked plans to secure boat as pontoon boat is secured to would float free of steel piles.
Anything over a tidal surge of 3M at HW would certainly enable me to bring the inflateable up to my front door and would seriously need to think about what to do regards our moggy :)
 
Last edited:
I strolled down yesterday morning (don't ask, no trains) via the tow path to Richmond. You are correct nothing on last years levels so far but certainly in "draw off" territory and some exploring to be done this weekend (if the tide works)
 
At the risk of being branded an ignoramous (I don't really mind - 'cos I don't know an awful lot...),

But please Sir (T_L), what is the purpose of the annual emptying of the River 'twixt Tedders and Richmond:-

  • Is it to see if there's any bottom,
  • To recover the pubs' glasses,
  • To flush a bit more fresh down to the Ungrateful Londoners,
  • To fulfill a prophecy (parting of the waters - Plug I'm currently rehearsing for Handel's Israel in Egypt , which seems to be about the Red Sea in 180 pages of score),
  • OR as I suspect some other (quite boring reason)

Since the demise of Byron's fount of knowledge, I'm obliged to direct the question to the cogniscenti of the lower, lower Thames.

Any answer will be gratefully received.

(by posting this question. I fully acknowledge that I haven't bothered to look elswhere, done any research or anything else which could be of use.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mae Maxima Culpa.
 
TrueBlue said:
At the risk of being branded an ignoramous (I don't really mind - 'cos I don't know an awful lot...),

But please Sir (T_L), what is the purpose of the annual emptying of the River 'twixt Tedders and Richmond:-

  • Is it to see if there's any bottom,
  • To recover the pubs' glasses,
  • To flush a bit more fresh down to the Ungrateful Londoners,
  • To fulfill a prophecy (parting of the waters - Plug I'm currently rehearsing for Handel's Israel in Egypt , which seems to be about the Red Sea in 180 pages of score),
  • OR as I suspect some other (quite boring reason)

Since the demise of Byron's fount of knowledge, I'm obliged to direct the question to the cogniscenti of the lower, lower Thames.

Any answer will be gratefully received.

(by posting this question. I fully acknowledge that I haven't bothered to look elswhere, done any research or anything else which could be of use.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mae Maxima Culpa.
Click to expand...

Put simply to carry out any maintenance on the gates at Richmond (the dropping jobs) whilst thats being done its also a great opportunity to have a good clear up which is why you see marine skips along the banks (cages so things stay in there). Volunteers and the PLA (I believe?) then have teams who wander up and down the banks. See the other thread (Low flow at Tedd) for some pix
 
Richard Shead said:
Put simply to carry out any maintenance on the gates at Richmond (the dropping jobs) whilst thats being done its also a great opportunity to have a good clear up which is why you see marine skips along the banks (cages so things stay in there). Volunteers and the PLA (I believe?) then have teams who wonder up and down the banks. See the other thread (Low flow at Tedd) for some pix
Click to expand...

So did I...

Thanks Richard,
My simple mind dicsounted maintenance being needed every year...

Does this sort of thing happen on other rivers where there is some sort of tidal sluice? I'm thinking of such as Denver Sluice?
 
I must admit I was beginning to wonder why I'd bothered to move upriver this year..... Not really, I've known the LW levels to drop fairly suddenly in the past - from observation over 30+ years, the "drawn off" level is extremely sensitive to even quite minor changes in river flow.

A.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top