Property:Project summary
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<b>Background</b><br>
The River Don Trust has undertaken a number of obstacle assessments across the catchment over the past year. One of these sites surveyed was the Fish Pass on the Newe weir. The fish pass was created back in the 1950’s when the old hydro power scheme was in use at the site. Whilst there has been some remedial works to the weir itself over the years by its owners the Fishery Board there has never been any formal action taken to assess or improve the fish pass.
The fish pass is known to function properly otherwise the 200km of tributaries and mainstem upstream would be devoid of salmon which is far from the case. However it is evident that the structure under certain flow conditions can delay fish migration. Following a survey at the site it was deemed appropriate that where possible we should begin with a series of improvements to the structure to reduce the delay associated with it for upstream migrating salmonids. From previous discussions it was apparent that minor alterations to the pass would both be acceptable and achievable by those concerned.
<b>Methods</b><br>
This first improvement was focused upon reducing the turbulence associated with the boxes and reducing the pluming of water as it leaves the face of the notch in each box of the pass. In order to achieve this the Trust biologist researched information relating to these factors and found evidence to support the creation of an ‘adherent nappe’ on each notch.
The current design of the fish pass structure has square edged notches between each box. When water flows of a square edge at force it plumes and creates a gap between the water and the surface of the structure itself (think of a waterfall). This gap created is also known as an “aerated nappe”.
An aerated nappe prevents fish from swimming up and through the plume and causes them to have to jump. Fish are essentially designed to swim, and while they can clearly jump, especially salmonids, a jumping fish is a sign that they are in difficulty. To surmount an obstacle successfully a jumping fish has to locate the right spot from which to jump, get its trajectory correct, land safely, and be pointing in a direction that enables it to succeed in swimming away upstream. Jumping is thus uncertain advertises the fish’s presence to predators, risking collision damage with structures, with high risk of failure to achieve the correct height and trajectory, and with every risk of being swept back downstream if it does not land with head pointing upstream (because of the large forces on its side if it is in any way across the flow).
Aerated nappes, especially on fish pass notches, must therefore be avoided in favor of adherent nappes where the water flows over the structure smoothly without leaving its surface creating a swim obstacle as opposed to a jump. Therefore adherent nappes will be created at the Newe Fish Pass by cutting angled sections of the concrete from the squared edge notches at the bottom of each box. The Trust biologist prepared the following design using measurements modified to suit the dimensions of the Newe Fish Pass from the Environment Agency Fish Pass Guidance Manual (2010).
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<b>Introduction</b><br>
The river restoration project is part of the UK’s first ‘Climate Change Park’ at Mayesbrook in Barking, east London. The project aimed to transform a rundown 45 hectare park into a showcase of how public greenspace can help a community to cope with the risks from climate change; such as increased flooding and higher summer temperatures.
The Mayesbrook Climate Change Park was delivered by an innovative partnership of public, private and voluntary organisations. By combining staff, funding and technical resources the partners were able to deliver a project that no one partner could have done alone. Funding received a major boost in 2009 when RSA donated £300,000 to the project through Thames Rivers Trust as a research contribution into natural flood management and reducing flood risk through a low carbon approach. The RSA donation also helped lever in a further £400,000 of funding from the Mayor of London’s ‘Help a London Park’ campaign.
At the launch of the works in March 2011, Richard Benyon the Minister for the Natural Environment at DEFRA said: “The Mayesbrook Climate Change Park is a shining example of the public and private sectors working in partnership. This project will be a great boost for the local communities and the environment. By bringing the Mayes Brook back into the park, planting trees and creating a wetland, this park will provide not only a great space for local people, but also the perfect habitat for wildlife. I look forward to coming back and seeing the progress of this fantastic project in the years to come.” In his speech the Minister also said that the project was showing “how to achieve more for less, which is important in today’s economic climate” and that the project was “good value for money by anybody’s standards”.
<b>What did the project involve?</b><br>
The first phase of the works has resulted in a significantly improved park in a borough which is one of the twenty most deprived in the UK. The Mayes Brook which formerly lay in a concrete channel has been brought out into the park along its 1.6 km length. The uploaded .KML file overlaid on the Google map (above) shows the course of the restored sinuous river channel in three sections (blue lines), available floodplain storage after restoration (opaque polygons) and numerous sustainable urban drainage areas (SUDs) and a backwater in the middle part of the park (green-blue polygons). These have contributed to an improvement in the wildlife and recreational value of the park. The landscaping in the middle part of the park increase flood storage by one-hectare to naturally and safely store the anticipated increase in floodwaters expected in future. In addition, separate Thames Water work to remedy misconnected drains has dramatically improved the quality of the water in the brook. New trees now cover the equivalent of three football pitches, to give shade, help cool the area and provide a home for more wildlife. New footpaths, entrance ways and signage allow the public to better use the park.
<b>Next steps</b><br>
The Mayesbrook partnership, led by Barking and Dagenham Council, have plans to implement a second phase of the project. This would include a café surrounded by a climate change garden of drought resistant plants. A display board in a new cafe will explain how all of the improvements to the park help adaptation to climate change. The display will also help people change their own lives to better cope with climate change impacts. Two polluted lakes in the park will be cleaned up, to better cool the area and to increase wildlife. One lake will have boating restored, with angling reintroduced on the other. As of March 2014, the project was still seeking funding to deliver these improvements.
Howard Davidson, Director of the Environment Agency South East, said: “Mayesbrook is already providing valuable lessons about how to plan for climate change, how to do it in partnership and how to spread the cost to make it affordable.”
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Improving the Conservation Status of Freshwater Pearl Mussel Targeting the Clun SAC and Upstream Waters +
<b>Objectives</b><br>
- To restore the Clun SAC to favourable Condition<br>
- Riparian habitat restoration/creation by stock exclusion, control of Phytophthora alni by coppicing, tree planting, provision of sustainable livestock watering, improvements in stock crossings<br>
- Surveys and scoping studies to inform conservation activity
<b>Background</b><br>
The River Clun and tributaries are located in Shropshire, England, with the lower Clun and most of the Special Area of Conservation (SAC) being located in Herefordshire. The catchment is important for ecology due to the underlying geology of sandstone and mudstones. Clun SAC was designated in 2004 for it population of Freshwater pearl mussels (Margaritifera margaritifera) demonstrating the European and UK government commitment to its protection. The SAC is in unfavorable condition - Pearl mussels are indicators of excellent water quality, requiring oligotrophic water for their survival. Recruiting populations of pearl mussels help maintain good water quality, as individuals they are able to filter up to 50 litres of water per day to help maintain habitat for other freshwater wildlife (including host salmonids). Pearl mussels are keystone species and are model species to deliver catchment wide conservation strategies; by protecting the pearl mussel, river habitats will be improved for a range of other species.
<b>Reasons for the project</b><br>
Freshwater pearl mussels are dependent on low sediment and nutrient levels, fast flows of cool water, clean gravels and fringing shade. They also rely on the presence of juvenile salmonids for part of their life-cycle. It is thought that the decline in the population has been occurring for a number of decades, age profiles indicate a population that has failed to recruit juveniles probably since the 1960’s. Recruiting populations are usually numbered in the hundreds of thousands, the Clun population is now estimated at just over 1000 individuals, considered to be permanently stressed and in rapid decline they are in danger of imminent extinction.
Works include: Control of Phytophthora alni by coppicing.
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<p>Elgin, one of Scotland’s oldest towns, has developed along the banks of the River Lossie for over 900 years. The River Lossie drains an area of approximately 270km² to the sea at Lossiemouth. Flooding in Elgin is not a new problem. Around twenty flood events have been recorded since 1750, with 11 floods in the last 50 years. Most recently Elgin flooded in 1997, 2000, 2002, 2009 and 2014.</p>
<p>Until recently, during major flood events, key transport links that serve the north east of Scotland have been severed. In 1997 and 2002, the A96 trunk road was closed for more than 48 hours, whilst the Inverness to Aberdeen railway line suffered considerable damage and was closed for several weeks. Flooding has caused great disruption and distress to the community of Elgin. In 2002 over 200 households were evacuated and 10 people had to be airlifted to safety; while the number of flooded homes and businesses was substantially greater.</p>
<p>The Elgin Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS) is the single largest to be promoted in Scotland to date. The scheme is designed to provide a current-day standard of defence of 1 in 200 years. The preferred scheme for Elgin was selected on 25 February 2004. A Flood Prevention Order was publicised in October 2007 and a planning application submitted in January 2008. Scottish Ministers confirmed the scheme in December 2010, with construction starting in April 2011. Construction is due to complete in 2015. The scheme protects around 750 residential properties and 250 businesses.</p>
<p>The scheme includes:<br>
• The restoration of an expansive blue/green corridor through Elgin reflecting both the historic and natural setting of the watercourse.<br>
• The creation of a two-stage channel within the flood corridor, through the centre of the town, by floodplain lowering allowing flood flows to pass safely through Elgin.<br>
• The creation of a new flood relief channel opposite Elgin Cathedral and a new natural channel to move the Tyock confluence approximately 1.5km downstream to address flood risk in New Elgin.<br>
• Setting back flood embankments and flood walls from Glen Moray Distillery in the west to the new confluence of the Tyock/Linkwood diversion channel with the River Lossie in the east.<br>
• Replacement and construction of three bridges to increase flood resilience and improve access. The innovative Landshut Bridge was designed within the historic context of the area surrounding Elgin Cathedral and Pans Port providing an understated structure with high architectural merit.
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A buffer strip of between 5 and 8 metres is to be created with native planting to create wildflower margin. Deflectors and gravels are to be placed in the river to improve in channel processes and encourage the development of marginal vegetation. Timber latticing is to be placed along the river wall to encourage the growth of vegetation and provide habitat for invertebrates and foraging habitat for birds and bats. To enhance the river as part of the redevelopment of the site and comply with current policy and legislation to improve the environment as part of the planning process. This is also in line with long term aims to improve the River Ravensbourne which is currently channelised and heavily engineered. +
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A catchment scale programme focusing on restoring natural process in the river systems and landscape to deliver benefits for people and wildlife. The programme encompasses a broad range of work from large river restoration scheme, changes in land management, small scale nature based solutions and innovative engagement activities and tools.
A virtual tour of the estate is being developed which covers some of the work undertaken as well as two immersive audio experiences that allow the listener to learn more about the landscape and its rivers.
http://storage.viewit360.co.uk/national-trust/holnicote-estate +
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A half day work to remove the impounding influence of a weir, and in the channel upstream four pools and runs were dug. A second weir, between two bridges c35m downstream of the one shown in the images, was also removed. This structure had minimal impact on habitat, but was an impediment to easy migration of fish etc. wishing pass upstream.
The structure within the meadow that was impounding the Nar upstream had some archaeological interest. For this reason there was a ‘watching brief’ from Norfolk County Council to ensure there was no damage done to any known existing interest features, and to record anything else of interest should this be revealed during the removal of the impounding structure. To minimise damage to the historical elements of the bridge, the concrete ‘boards’ were removed with great care, leaving the central pillar and upper lintel in place, yet drawing the bed down to the required level.
The effect of centuries of impoundment has been to create a sluggish/non-existent flow in the river upstream with the resultant deposition of thick layers of mud. Pools were created by widening the channel locally. To help keep the pools clear in the future, the channel was narrowed upstream. Due to the extreme depth of soft mud, narrowing was achieved by pushing in one side of the existing river edge with the back of the bucket, and the void created behind this was filled with the arisings from creating the pools. Four pools and upstream ‘runs’ were created, with the run formed upstream of the second pool from the top having a small amount of gravel spread on the bed – this was won from the bed of the river in the pool downstream. +
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A heavily engineered reach of the urban River Trent was restored to multiple channels, backwaters, ponds and exposed riverine sediments. +
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A large tree has fallen across the river channel and become trapped against the main trunk sewer that crosses the river. The branches of the trapped tree had collected a large quantity of floating debris including plywood sheet, tree branches, large items of litter, shopping trolleys, tyres, furniture and large amounts of small litter items.The build of debris had created a dam in the river channel creating an impassable barrier to fish migration and a major eye sore in the river. An excavator was used to remove the blockage and transport 8 tonnes of rubbish from the site. Removing the blockage has made over 5km of the River Ebbw accessible to migrating salmon. The salmon now have access to some excellent spawning habitats upstream of the obstruction. +
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A lot of works are present on the Vicoin River. One of these is the weir of the Coupeau impoundment, realized in 1969. This pond, closed by a weir 9 meters large and 1,80 meters high, covers three hectares, 800 m long and 40 m wide at maximum.
This impoundment hasn’t a flow regulation reason; instead it is relationed with a lot of recreational activities, such as restaurant, camping, fishing and walking.
The weir affects the ecological continuity and the sediment transport. The impoundment is eutrophic and a typological modification in fish population is observed.
The site needs frequent mechanical digging of sediment and the volumes extracted become each time bigger. After the three last sediment removals, in 1988 for 15 000 m3, in 1996 with 8 000 m3 and in 2004 pour with 30 000 m3 (110 000 €), an alternative site management analysis is undertook.
After the sediment removal in 2004, during several months the weir has been left open allowing the river to recreate a preferential channel. In 2008, the weir is removed. The riverbed is reshaped respecting the new natural channel. A 4 meters riverbed on average (2 meters in low water) is created, as well as outflow wetland flooded during high water events. Some works on banks (especially bioengineering), are realized.
Also touristic and recreational facilities, such as trails and footbridge, will be constructed on the entire site in 2010. +
A massive year-long project in Kent which saw the large-scale restoration and creation of 228ha of wetlands, restoration of four woodland sites totalling 1400ha, and intensive management of one grassland site, has just completed. Seasalter Levels, a wetland to the west of Whitstable. The other three aspects were: Blean Woods - four pockets of woodland across Kent including RSPB Blean Woods nature reserve near Canterbury, and Wraik Hill to the south-west of Whitstable, now have a more certain future, thanks to the work of the project.
Funds totalling £1.9 million from the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, enabled the RSPB and Kent Wildlife Trust to work in partnership with Canterbury City Council to deliver this incredible work.
Seasalter Levels - The Seasalter Levels site had been neglected for decades prior to a partnership coming together in 2007 to help manage the site and develop it into a nature reserve. Despite this work, many parts of the site remained in poor condition and this project focused on those areas by installing new features to retain water and opportunities for animals to graze as part of its ongoing management, including:
*Installation of dams, embankments, dykes and pipework
*Restoration of 2.1km of ditches
*Creation of 119,246sqm shallow water channels across the site
*Installation of fences, gates, corrals and a bridge to keep cattle in
*Clearing of invasive plant species from waterways
*As a result of this work, the site will be more resilient to climate change by enabling water to be retained on the grazing marsh during the spring and summer months when birds such as lapwing and redshank are raising families. It will also provide a ‘stepping-stone site’ for species that are predicted to move into new geographical areas to live due to the changing climate.
Seasalter Levels which is recognised as a Special Protection Area (SPA), Ramsar site, Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Local Nature Reserve (LNR), will now truly thrive as a sanctuary for breeding and wintering wildfowl and waders, water voles, rare invertebrates and plants.
It is hoped the site will be opened up for guided walks in the future.
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A partnership project between London Borough of Enfield (LBE) and the Environment Agency (EA; Biodiversity & Geomorphology team from Hertfordshire and North London Area). Funded by LBE, EA and the Greater London Authority (GLA). The environmental and flood risk benefits allowed for funding, and the project came to approximately £1.5million.
The Turkey Brook is a medium sized, clay-based catchment flowing initially through rural grassland into a dense urban area of London, before meeting the River Lee in Enfield. It is failing under the Water Framework Directive for: macrophytes and phytobenthos, phosphate, and drought/low flows, and hydromorphology. The river was confined in a steep sided concrete channel along the edge of the park, with very little biodiversity, habitat or connection with groundwater. The general public often did not even know it was there, or if they did they regarded it as an open sewer.
The Albany Park Restoration Project aimed to restore 400m of the Turkey Brook, by breaking it out of concrete and creating a natural, sinuous river through the park. The river now flows through a wide, shallow river corridor made up primarily of the Kempton Park Gravel Member, which allows the channel to reform and reshape itself during high flows until it reaches an equilibrium. The urban, flashy nature of the catchment means that intensive geomorphological work is achieved during each high flow event.
The river is now connected laterally with it's floodplain and riparian zone, and vertically with the groundwater and a hyporheic zone. The natural cross section and improved connectivity has improved the Turkey Brook's resilience to low flows, and its ability to store water and attenuate high flows. The constructed wetlands and SuDs features around the park has hopefully also improved water quality, but ongoing monitoring will determine the success of this.
The river is now a valuable public amenity in an otherwise heavily urban area, and provides an educational resource for local schools.
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A partnership project by RSPB, EA, UU & NE to re-meander a historically straightened section of the Swindale Beck, an upstream sub-catchment of the River Eden in Cumbria. The channel had been straightened at least 160 years ago, appearing on the 1859 Ordnance Survey map in its straightened position. The beck was heavily rock armored on both sides with pronounced levees resulting from generations of farmers clearing it out and depositing material on the banks. These resulted in the straightened channel being effectively cut-off from the surrounding floodplain which not only accelerated flow through the valley, but also meant that when the banks were over-topped, water wasn't able to flow back into the channel and pooled on the meadows either side reducing their value both botanically and agriculturally. The straightened channel was very uniform both in terms of width and depth and bed substrate size. There were no riffles, gravel bars or pools within the straightened channel. Smaller gravels and silts were regularly carried during high flows and deposited at the drinking water intake immediately downstream.
In addition to the obvious engineering present in the channel, there was further evidence that the river had been modified in the shape of many paleochannels visible in the surrounding grassland. Using these, and detailed topographic mapping, a more appropriate route was designed by EA geomorphologists. Much of this new/restored route ran through areas of permanently wet and relatively species poor parts of the surrounding grassland. By reinstating the straightened channel after in-filling as hay meadow, the area of botanically rich and agriculturally utilizable land has been increased in the phase 1 area of the project.
Part of the new route of the channel ran through a SSSI hay meadow, so measures had to be put in place to protect this area. These included not storing any excavated spoil on the SSSI and only allowing machines to track within the footprint of the channel and on a specifically created haul route of bog mats and terram membrane. While these measures increased cost and complexity of the project, they were highly effective at protecting the SSSI meadow.
Work started in March 2016 and was completed in September 2016. The project resulted in 890m of new/restored sinuous channel being created, replacing a 750m length of straightened channel, so a gain of 140m in length. A further 110m of smaller sinuous channel was also created to connect two tributaries into the restored route. A relatively simple channel was dug by contractors, entrusting natural process to create specific in-channel features and morphological variation. This has happened with incredible speed. A significant rainfall event two days after connection of the first phase of the work helped to form new gravel bars, riffles and pools and populated parts of the new channel that were somewhat lacking in gravel with material from upstream. The new channel is already considerably more morphologically diverse than the straightened route and we are confident that increased ecological diversity will follow. The photographs give a flavor of diversity of the restored channel.
The old channel was in-filled and re-seeded with brush harvested seed from the SSSI meadow.
A bridge was removed as part of the project, and to enable access across the new channel, two ford crossing were installed. These will allow the river more potential for movement than bridges would. Crossing will only be required when hay is due to be cut, so the fords will likely only be used less than 10 times per year.
A further 436m of channel upstream of the main restoration area also had work carried out. This reach, although also rock armored and embanked had greater sinuousity, so instead of creating a new/restored channel for it, a less-interventionist and lower cost approach was taken. Key sections of the rock armored banks were removed by an excavator working from the bankside. The rocks that were removed were placed in the channel to create riffles. This work immediately added morphological diversity to the channel and will enable the river to further weaken remaining sections of the banks over time.
Whilst contractors were on site, the opportunity was taken to block up artificial drains on an adjacent area of valley mire, further contributing to slowing the flow of water through the valley.
Fencing the channel and tree planting are not compatible with the SSSI interest features, but in the phase 2 part of the project which falls outside of the SSSI, tree planting within a fenced river corridor was carried out. This will mean that roughly half the length of the restored channel will be wooded with the other half open. The surrounding meadows are managed in a traditional way with light sheep grazing and no spreading of manure or artificial fertilizers and no pesticides are used.
The restoration of Swindale Beck fits within a wider set of works that are helping us to use the valley to demonstrate a broad range of management techniques that can be considered as best practice land management for flood alleviation. In the highest part of the catchment, through their Sustainable Catchment Management Programme (SCaMP), United Utilities have restored a significant area of Mosedale, the Lake District's largest area of blanket bog. In this area, 47km of grips have been blocked and all livestock have been removed for a 10 year period. A number of other areas of bog and mire within the Swindale catchment have also been restored through grip blocking in recent years. Also through SCaMP, approximately 40,000 trees have been planted in Swindale and many small watercourses have been fenced to encourage natural riparian woodland regeneration. The drinking water intake just downstream of the restored section of Swindale Beck has recently been replaced, incorporating a new fish pass and features to benefit the downstream section of the river (part of the Eden & Tributaries SAC). We are also developing plans to create two areas of flood water storage in Swindale. There can be few places in the UK where such a range of interventions are being carried out within such a small area. A robust monitoring and research package is being developed to ensure that the maximum range of benefits are captured.
The Swindale Beck Restoration Project has received a great deal of attention both locally and nationally and we have hosted a large number of visitors to come and see the work over recent months. It has been featured in a range of media publications, e.g.
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/environment/mankind-helping-lake-district-river-meander/
A short film has been produced about the project by Unitied Utilities (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt2pdqnYmJc)and we plan to produce a more detailed film in spring to help disseminate the benefits of river restoration projects.
A new permissive footpath and on-site interpretation will be installed to help visitors to the valley understand what has been done and why.
Swindale valley forms part of RSPB Haweswater, land managed by the RSPB and owned by United Utilities. RSPB and UU are working in partnership to improve biodiversity and raw water quality alongside other ecosystem services. Further information about our work at Haweswater can be found here - http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/HWR-0629-15-16%20Haweswater%20management%20plan%2016pp%20low%20res_tcm9-412269.pdf
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RSPB, United Utilities, the Environment Agency and Natural England are working in partnership on a range of projects in the Swindale Valley near Haweswater in the Lake District. Together they are testing and demonstrating land management approaches to achieve improved outcomes for wildlife, water quality and downstream flood risk within a farmed landscape. So far 1km of heavily modified river, 1,000ha of bog and 15ha of species-rich hay meadow have been restored and new woodland has been established. They are currently investigating the feasibility of establishing two temporary flood storage areas at the head of the valley to determine the impact on downstream peak flows. A critical element of the approach is building relationships with academic institutions so that the impact of the interventions on a range of outcomes can be better understood. <br>
https://www.therrc.co.uk/sites/default/files/projects/23_swindalevalley.pdf
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A river restoration project driven by a lack of morphological diversity on the River Brett between Layham and Hadleigh. The project involved the transformation of a straight, uniform, steeply embanked, trapezoidal river channel into a morphologically diverse, oxygenated and habitat-rich river channel. Key improvements made to the river here include increased floodplain connectivity, greater variety in channel depth and width and enhanced flow velocities (to accelerate geomorphic change). +
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A small Hulta hydro power plant is situated 400 meters upstreams from the Hulta dam. Along with other restorations in Nolåns river bypass is about to be constructed in Hulta power plant to make it possible for migrating fish and other aquatic organisms to get pass the plant. The capacity of the hydro power plant is only 1 m3/s and represents only a small portion of the medium water flow in the river which means that a large part of the water can be used in the fishway. Fishpassage is about to be built in the eastern part of the dam and a minimum flow of 300l/s will always be released in the stream. During the most extensive migrating period of salmon and brown trout (Sep-Oct)at leasat 600l/s is about to be released in the fishway. Restorations will be conducted during 2013. +
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A sustainable solution was used to improve a silted gravel bed by narrowing the channel using berms, woody debris and pinned willow. This will help to constrict the over-wide channel, increasing water velocity and helping to keep the gravel bed exposed which should provide ideal spawning habitat for trout and an assortment of invertebrates and aquatic plants that depend on a clean gravel substrate.
Large spoil embankments, a remnant of past dredging activities, occur along much of the reach. These have been selectively removed on the southern bank, to improve floodplain connectivity. The result, floodplain wetting during periods of high flow, provides multiple benefits. Floodplain biodiversity is improved, sediment is removed from the channel and flood risk to people and property in Fakenham and further downstream is reduced. +
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A town wide project working with the local community and improving habitat through capital works. +
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A very uniform 500m section of the Tarrant, with extremely limited existing habitat diversity, was modified using a number of different techniques. The main work involved re-profiling the bed to create some variation in long and cross-section. No re-profiling of banks was undertaken, nor did the work involve any land-take. In the upstream sub-sections A-B live willow logs/stakes were also installed into the river or up the bank slopes in specific locations.
The physical modifications of re-distributing bed material around, installing log deflectors and occasional short stake to form pollards, was completed in just over two days. Work was completed within four days by wiring down firmly each of the installed willow logs and cutting pinning stakes back to log height. +
APEM was commissioned by Severn Rivers Trust to undertake a series of surveys in the River Worfe catchment, a tributary of the River Severn in Shropshire, England. Particular interest and survey effort was focussed on a sub-catchment of the River Worfe, Wesley Brook which has, historically, been influenced by a wide variety of human activity and where pressures from surrounding land uses and development are causing the watercourse to fail Water Framework Directive (WFD) objectives. The brook was selected as a priority catchment which has significant capacity for improvement using funds made available to SRT via the Catchment Restoration Funding initiative.
In 2012/13 APEM undertook a walkover survey of the entire Worfe catchment to assess the current condition of the river and the pressures imposed on the watercourse by surrounding land practices. APEM undertook a walkover survey mapping fish habitat and diffuse pollution sources throughout the entire catchment. The findings of these surveys in partnership with high resolution imagery allowed accurate and informed interpretation of the sources and pathways of contaminants entering the river system with subsequent mitigation measures aimed at source inhibition. Validation of suspected diffuse pollution sources were also subsequently determined by a series of wet weather sampling events in winter 2013 / 14.
In addition, a variety of ecological surveys using both ground and remote sensing applications have been undertaken in order to establish a baseline in the most sensitive and impacted sub-catchments. As part of these surveys barriers to fish migration in the catchment have been mapped and subsequent site visits have been performed looking at potential fish passageway measures at each. In addition protected species surveys have been established, notably looking at the population status of white clawed crayfish in the catchment.
It was intended that these surveys would inform mitigation work to facilitate a potential move towards good ecological status in the catchment, as required by the WFD. Prior to the implementation of any improvement measures, it was essential to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the current pressures on the catchment. This understanding enabled measures to be targeted to the specific issues impacting the water body and, as a result, provide the most ecological and cost effective mitigation strategy.
This work has led to the initiation of a riverine restoration plan on Wesley Brook. In 2013 APEM presented the findings of the catchment surveys to the East Shropshire National Farmers Union in Telford. Subsequently, APEM have undertaken 20 farm visits in the Worfe catchment to discuss high priority issues. The contribution of the land owners and farmers in the area to date has been excellent and a number of proposals have been put forward to the SRT and the Environment Agency which aim to mitigate future diffuse pollution issues on Wesley Brook, of which a significant number have been implemented
Abandoned railway criss crossed the R Derwent at three locations at this vicinity. The failing abutments and buttresses were removed summer 2013 to improve stream hydrology and morphology. +