Case study:Habitat improvements in the upper Kennet
Project overview
Status | In progress |
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Project web site | |
Themes | Habitat and biodiversity, Social benefits, Water quality |
Country | England |
Main contact forename | Charlotte |
Main contact surname | Hitchmough |
Main contact user ID | |
Contact organisation | |
Contact organisation web site | |
Partner organisations | Action for the River Kennet (ARK), Marlborough Town Council, Marlborough Area Development Trust, local volunteer and community groups |
Parent multi-site project | |
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects |
No |
Project summary
The project to enable fish to swim through Marlborough will build a new channel linking the existing main river with a backstream, which currently flows intermittently down a cascade that is impassable to fish. The new channel will have a gentle gradient which will allow fish, including brown trout and grayling to swim up and down it.
This is phase two of a project to link the river above and below Marlborough. The river above Marlborough is a valuable spawning habitat, but all the fish here died during the 2011/12 drought. Joining the two sections of river should improve the fish populations up and downstream.
The habitat restoration projects use relatively simple techniques and materials and a considerable portion of the work will be done by volunteers. The work will repair eroded parts of the bank and create meanders and changes in flow which will create a more diverse environment to suit a variety of fish species and life stages.
By fencing livestock away from the river the project will reduce bank erosion and keep sediment out of the river as a result. This keeps the natural gravel bed clean, leaving it clear for fish spawning and healthy weed growth.
We will improve water quality, by diverting urban runoff from the road into a reedbed, which will filter out pollutants before the water reaches the river.
Monitoring surveys and results
Lessons learnt
Catchment and subcatchment
Site
Name | Kennet |
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WFD water body codes | |
WFD (national) typology | |
WFD water body name | |
Pre-project morphology | |
Reference morphology | |
Desired post project morphology | |
Heavily modified water body | No |
National/international site designation | |
Local/regional site designations | |
Protected species present | No |
Invasive species present | No |
Species of interest | |
Dominant hydrology | |
Dominant substrate | |
River corridor land use | |
Average bankfull channel width category | |
Average bankfull channel width (m) | |
Average bankfull channel depth category | |
Average bankfull channel depth (m) | |
Mean discharge category | |
Mean annual discharge (m3/s) | |
Average channel gradient category | |
Average channel gradient | |
Average unit stream power (W/m2) |
Project background
Reach length directly affected (m) | |
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Project started | |
Works started | |
Works completed | |
Project completed | |
Total cost category | 100 - 500 k€ |
Total cost (k€) | 104104 k€ <br />104,000 € <br /> |
Benefit to cost ratio | |
Funding sources | Catchment Restoration Funds |
Cost for project phases
Phase | cost category | cost exact (k€) | Lead organisation | Contact forename | Contact surname |
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Investigation and design | |||||
Stakeholder engagement and communication | |||||
Works and works supervision | |||||
Post-project management and maintenance | |||||
Monitoring |
Reasons for river restoration
Mitigation of a pressure | Erosion |
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Hydromorphology | |
Biology | Fish |
Physico-chemical | |
Other reasons for the project |
Measures
Structural measures
| |
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Bank/bed modifications | |
Floodplain / River corridor | Creation of new meander |
Planform / Channel pattern | |
Other | |
Non-structural measures
| |
Management interventions | |
Social measures (incl. engagement) | Local schools will use the Stonebridge and Og sites as an educational resource. |
Other | Local people will be connected to their river, either because they have volunteered to work on the project or because they can now walk along a section of river which was previously inaccessible. |
Monitoring
Hydromorphological quality elements
Element | When monitored | Type of monitoring | Control site used | Result | ||
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Before measures | After measures | Qualitative | Quantitative |
Biological quality elements
Element | When monitored | Type of monitoring | Control site used | Result | ||
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Before measures | After measures | Qualitative | Quantitative |
Physico-chemical quality elements
Element | When monitored | Type of monitoring | Control site used | Result | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Before measures | After measures | Qualitative | Quantitative |
Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic
Element | When monitored | Type of monitoring | Control site used | Result | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Before measures | After measures | Qualitative | Quantitative |
Monitoring documents
Image gallery
Additional documents and videos
Additional links and references
Link | Description |
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Supplementary Information
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