Hit Something Coming Out of Romney Lock

[GAJ52]

Hi

I was coming out of Romney lock yesterday heading downstream towards the railway bridge, roughly opposite the Rowing club, when my depth gauge suddenly reduced to about 2.5 ft and there was a big clunk from the bottom of the boat, the depth gauge then rapidly increased again. Prior to the lockdown I've come out of there many times with no problems, I tend to not hug the shallow water as my draft is 1.2 mtrs.

Just a warning to any larger boats using this stretch of the water.

Glen

 

[Mark26]

I also hit something with a sloid bump downstream of Romney lock on Friday. I assumed it was a submenged log.

 

[Outinthedinghy]

I hit that a while ago, before the lockdown started up. I think it's a shoal caused by the Jubilee River discharge.

A bit surprised the EA didn't pick it up on their survey of the River. There is a green marker near it but it's not related. Opposite the rowing club about in the middle of the channel as you straighten up to go under Black Potts bridge.



3ft4 draft on my boat.

 

[Mark26]

Yes , that’s exactly where it is. My bump sounded like something hard.

 

[Old Crusty]

There is a shoal but could also be a chunk of boat that's gone through the weir during high flows. It was last dredged in late 2013 so has had plenty of time to re-establish itself.

 

[GAJ52]

That sounds like the exact spot I had the problem, Is there some kind of procedure to get the EA to take another look.

 

[Mark26]

It’s not the shoal, which is clearly marked, this is in the main Chanel near the shoal.
As I said previously, when I hit it I thought it was a submerged log or some such, but in hindsite , yes it should be reported and more of us who do, the better.
I think there’s a number on the official EA website for reporting such obstructions.

 

[boatone]

It’s not the shoal, which is clearly marked, this is in the main Chanel near the shoal.
As I said previously, when I hit it I thought it was a submerged log or some such, but in hindsite , yes it should be reported and more of us who do, the better.
I think there’s a number on the official EA website for reporting such obstructions.

Please post a screen grab from google maps or google earth and mark the spot .

 

[boatone]

You can also use "what3words.com" to locate a place within 3 foot squares - This seems pretty close to ///truly.solo.canny

 

[GAJ52]

Not sure of the exact spot but somewhere near the red marked area.

 

[GAJ52]

Reported to the Environment Agency Incident No 1817509

 

[Chris_d]

Reported to the Environment Agency Incident No 1817509

I hit something there June last year, as OP felt like a submerged log so didn't think much of it.

 

[Mark26]

I have reported it as well ?

 

[Mark26]

I received this reply from the EA...


Good afternoon

Thank you for your report of an underwater obstruction between the tail of Romney Island and Black Potts Ait which has been passed to me to investigate. We will seek to ascertain the exact position and nature of the obstruction ahead of taking appropriate action based on our findings.

If any further information comes to your attention with respect to its location I would be grateful to receive it at this address.

 

[Old Crusty]

Back in the day (only about 4 years ago), a couple of EA patrol boatmen would have taken the PL Wye from the dock at Romney Lock, popped down and dragged the bed to find the obstruction. It would have been resolved in less than a day.

 

[Outinthedinghy]

The location where I hit something was approximately here on Google maps. The red pin.

May not be 100% accurate but I remember having given enough room on the Windsor bank bearing in mind it is a bend I was surprised to find a shallow bit so far out.

What I hit felt more like mud though no clonking. That's why I thought it might be a shoal on the Windsor side there as well as the other one which I noticed had been marked by a green buoy in approximately the location I have marked with a green circle on the image below.

It's possible I was further out but I don't think so. The last time I went down I kept very close to the Windsor side of the green buoy and it was no problem other than slightly odd alignment for the bridge.



Could this be related to the installation of power generating gear on the weir and the jubilee river altering the natural flow pattern ?

I'm no hydrologist but if you dump half of the capacity of a river into a certain location it seems likely it will have some sort of effect.

The jubilee river comes out a bit further down but it would presumably cause a rise in level below Romney weir and perhaps some silt deposition in unexpected locations.

It certainly was going well last winter I remember it being on about 100 cumecs at Christmas.

 

[Old Crusty]

Could this be related to the installation of power generating gear on the weir and the jubilee river altering the natural flow pattern ?

I'm no hydrologist but if you dump half of the capacity of a river into a certain location it seems likely it will have some sort of effect.

The jubilee river comes out a bit further down but it would presumably cause a rise in level below Romney weir and perhaps some silt deposition in unexpected locations.

It certainly was going well last winter I remember it being on about 100 cumecs at Christmas.

I doubt the hydro screws will have much effect on the way the flow behaves that far downstream as they are a long way from the tail of the lock island. However, the volume of water going over the weir and passing the end of the lock island, that Black Potts Bridge is an obstruction to flow and the Jubilee output will cause back up certainly are likely features.

After the 13/14 floods, that whole area was dredged (or 're-profiled' as the EA wanted it known at that point) and the spoil was dumped at the top end of the weir stream. It is very likely that this material has been scoured out again and settled around the area where you touched bottom.

I would like to think that a patrol boat will pop down and check the depth in the fairway following your report.

 

[oldgit]

On the Mudway the usual action is to "reprofile" the river bed and dump the tailings somehere close bye.
In one particular location ( Sluice Weir lock) the adjacent river bank.
The next winter floods wash it all back in again.
For complete removal of the spoil, contamination checks have to be carried out before it can be "dumped" elsewhere

 

[Old Crusty]

On the Mudway the usual action is to "reprofile" the river bed and dump the tailings somehere close bye.
In one particular location ( Sluice Weir lock) the adjacent river bank.
The next winter floods wash it all back in again.
For complete removal of the spoil, contamination checks have to be carried out before it can be "dumped" elsewhere

Prior to the 13/14 floods, river dredgings had been classified as toxic waste as soon as they broke the surface under one of the environment acts, 1975 possibly but CBA to look it up right now. In early 2013 (if I recall correctly), Environment Secretary of State at the time, Owen Patterson, made an amendment to allow dredgings to be relocated in the same river. Other authorities place the dredgings on the river bank thus allowing the little creatures to crawl back into the water and increase capacity in the channel - just a bit too revolutionary for the Thames these days.

 

[oldgit]

We are about to commence dredging our club tidal moorings which have silted up severely over the last decade.
Gained about 2 metres of mud on average
Met the various rules and regs demanded by Peel Ports especially regarding our current resident
Tentacled lagoon-worms.
Despite doom laden prophesies from some of our resident prophets it proved to be fairly simple operation getting the permissions.
There was some delay in finding somebody to it.
We have been told, by the treasuror under no circumstances must club mmebers talk to the dredger operator as he is on a daily rate and the sooner he goes the better.