Lack of dredging contributing to the floods

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bandita

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Concerning the River Severn which has become prone to devastating flooding, maybe it is time to consider that the river is in dire need of dredging.
Owning a deep draft yacht I know the river is very shallow.
The policy of constantly building flood barriers not only is it expensive, but useless if the river isn't dredged.
If the Severn is in such a state then virtually7other rivers are as well!
A policy of silt shifters has been adopted, cheaper, which keeps the channels free for navigation.
Dredging removes the silt.
When the waters are deeper it allows more water to flow and also allows vessels of deeper draft to explore a bit more inland.
Britain's longest river is becoming a wide shallow stream.
The lower Severn tidal bit has been so neglected yet could provide much needed mooring space for yachts etc so dredging from Bewdley to Bristol would benefit all boat owners and help relieve the flooding as well.
I can speak about the Severn but I am certain that there are many other rivers that could benefit from being dredged as well.
 
You could well be correct but unfortunately it won't happen for two reasons:
1. It would require joined up thinking from government.
2. It would not be visible enough to keep the population happy.
I recently spoke to a guy who had hit the bottom just above Gloucester damaging the engine mounts on one of two newly fitted engines. He was convinced he had been in the same place many times before without damage.
Allan
 
Our boat is at Stourport in a yard and all year boats have been lifted out to have props replaced and legs repaired. We have a 2 metre draft!!!!!! ouch!!!
Its sad to see peoples homes and livlihoods being destroyed by a long term cost cutting operation. The whole river needs to be deeper and it has to be kept that way. Got a feeling the tax payer is going to bailout the insurance companies. All the rivers need dredging.....and kept that way. They did it in the old days, profit margins wont pay to keep the super yachts?????????
 
How much does pleasure boating contribute to the economy on the Severn? I have no idea, but I can imagine the tax revenue earned would not be far away from the cost of constantly dredging, thus making it a net loss/break even.

Financially, because that's all that matters, it's never going to happen.

We've got the same problem on the Ribble. Once, ships used to frequent the huge docks. Now, you'd be touching cloth with a 3m draft, on springs.

Way of the world I'm afraid. It's cheaper, and frankly more sensible to dredge short channels in deep water coastal ports, than it is to bother with rivers.
 
bandita said:
Concerning the River Severn which has become prone to devastating flooding, maybe it is time to consider that the river is in dire need of dredging.
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How will that stop all the rain falling out of the sky? The saturation of soil? The failure of builders to buy land on flood plains and the planners to grant them permission to build? The covering of land with concrete and the poor drainage that results?

The end of the river is only a tiny percentage of the problem and I can't see a small change in the river going to assist with a problem 20 or 30 miles upstream.
 
Do you think the environmentalists will let you dredge and put the silt some where?

It is polluted waste that bears a huge disposal charge.

After all dredging Mostyn in wales was stopped for enviro reasons and the ferry port lost.
 
The sand and silt washed in on the pier at Penzance, and dredged up to allow the ferry to have better access (slightly), was loaded onto big artic trucks and taken about 50 miles away to be dumped ashore. Environmentally friendly???

It was deemed as contaminated - you should have seen the size of the lugworms in it!!


Problems with dredging a model sailing boat pond at St.Ives - mud in the river, getting to the beach.
Problem with dredging Falmouth Marina - lifting the "heavy metal" silt, storing it, and replacing after deepening. Got around by using it as in-fill.
Problem with dredging deep water channel into Falmouth Docks - Maerl (ongoing).
Road drains. Instead of regular cleaning (as used to be), we now need to inform Council if one is blocked. That one only is cleaned.

Drainage pipes are still the same size as when first installed, even with increasing run-off from extra development and car parking space paving over lawns.

Building on areas not previously built on. Why do they not think why these areas were not built on?
 
I was reminded of one of my parents' friends who bought a house on the Somerset Levels. Spent a fortune on decorating the ground floor which was originally whitewashed with the main accomodation upstaire - with a large door and a mooring ring next to it. The new parquet floor was never the same after the next heavy downpour and the conservatory was last seen floating across the pastures.

All the local towns now have estates of expensive jerry built houses on the Thames floodplain, pushing up the insurance for those of us in sensibly sited houses.

I'd love to see the rivers dredged and navigable again, but it's not likely to happen in my lifetime - not until the oil runs out and goods are brought in by sailing barge again.

Rob.
 
rob2 said:
I was reminded of one of my parents' friends who bought a house on the Somerset Levels. Spent a fortune on decorating the ground floor which was originally whitewashed with the main accomodation upstaire - with a large door and a mooring ring next to it. The new parquet floor was never the same after the next heavy downpour and the conservatory was last seen floating across the pastures.

All the local towns now have estates of expensive jerry built houses on the Thames floodplain, pushing up the insurance for those of us in sensibly sited houses.

I'd love to see the rivers dredged and navigable again, but it's not likely to happen in my lifetime - not until the oil runs out and goods are brought in by sailing barge again.

Rob.
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wasnt the gold to pay the navy bought down from London ( via inland waters) by barge to Pompey
 
Following the 2008 floods here in Morpeth the Environment Agency dredged thousands of tons from the river through the town centre and sold the gravel to Tarmac.

They had to wait for the right time of year of course so the wildlife wasn't damaged.

The national policy is that channel clearance is only done in sensitive areas. So dredging upstream to prevent silt depositing in sensitive areas is against national policy. :confused:
 
There's a good low impact way of doing it; build training walls on the river and the river will scour itself. That's how the Clyde and many other ports on rivers were persuaded by man to shape themselves from the landscape before the advent of steam powered dredgers. Without training walls on the Clyde Glasgow would not exist, as it would not have become a major port and centre for trade and ship building.
 
rob2 said:
I was reminded of one of my parents' friends who bought a house on the Somerset Levels....
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Completely predictable. The Somerset Levels are level because they flood, and flood because they are level and barely above sea level!

rob2 said:
I'd love to see the rivers dredged and navigable again, but it's not likely to happen in my lifetime - not until the oil runs out and goods are brought in by sailing barge again.

Rob.
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It's not just about dredging. Changes in farming (extent, mechanisation) led to a huge increase in deposition of silt, etc., into the streams and rivers, and the abstraction of vast amounts of water from the rivers to supply our increased population and lifestyles have reduced the base river flows that transport the silt to the sea.

There are many places that were accessible by boat but never dredged, but have now silted up.
 
LittleSister said:
Completely predictable. The Somerset Levels are level because they flood, and flood because they are level and barely above sea level!



It's not just about dredging. Changes in farming (extent, mechanisation) led to a huge increase in deposition of silt, etc., into the streams and rivers, and the abstraction of vast amounts of water from the rivers to supply our increased population and lifestyles have reduced the base river flows that transport the silt to the sea.

There are many places that were accessible by boat but never dredged, but have now silted up.
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you missed out autumn sowing of cereal crops
 
A few years ago we were based in Chiswick Quay Marina in London for a few months having work done.The owners wanted to dredge it ie,PUT THE SILT BACK IN THE THAMES WHERE IT CAME FROM,but ON NO that wasn't allowed.I lost interest...probably carted off to landfill somewhere.Incidentally as I post this I'm in Montenegro where it's blowing a whooley with thunderstorms and power cuts...but to get back to the point one of the shipyards here(Hercig Novi) wants to sell some of its land which is contaminated(Blasting off hulls of ships for the last 50 years?) so this has all been bagged up for shipment to Eqitorial Guinea if I remember correctly.Good to see some African country able to process this???!!!
 
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Bantita is absolutely correct. I went to a meeting at Gloucester YC some years ago and the BW engineer stated that they could no longer dredge as they used to and deposit the spoil to build up the banks because it was now not allowed! It was not a matter of cost, but of environmental laws! Go on Mr Cameron, put your mouth to action and repeal these restrictive regulations and red tape so the rivers can be dredged properly!! Amazingly the Marine Bill going through Parliament will require ever more expensive licences to dredge.
 
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