Case study:Castle Acre Rehabilitation Project
Project overview
Status | Complete |
---|---|
Project web site | |
Themes | Habitat and biodiversity |
Country | England |
Main contact forename | Nigel T.H. |
Main contact surname | Holmes |
Main contact user ID | |
Contact organisation | River Restoration Centre |
Contact organisation web site | http://www.therrc.co.uk |
Partner organisations | Environment Agency, River Restoration Centre |
Parent multi-site project | |
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects |
No |
Project summary
Work was considerable, affecting about 65% of the channel within a stretch of c300m. Work was undertaken to create greater diversity of habitat by modifying both the long and cross-sections (formation of pools and fast ‘run’ habitat); narrow the channel to improve self-cleansing of the bed and thus reduce sand and silt deposition as well as ‘weed’ growth in the future; improve the landscape quality of the area by replacing the unsightly deflectors with ‘living’ features that would do a more effective job than the deflectors were attempting to do. This section of river has more gradient than the other two sites, and this tended to recede on passing downstream. In habitat terms it primarily suffers badly from historic widening, and attempts to narrow it with deflectors have been generally ineffectual due to the inability of marginal plants to encroach and become firmly established – some deflectors have, however, established some habitat diversity.
The key to being able to carry out the works as desired was the presence of large patches of sedge (Carex acutiformis) and reed (Phalaris arundinacea). In several places the river was narrowed by over 4m simply by transferring large ‘sods’ of sedges; these imports were placed within the inside the existing bank, and will now form the new bank. In the upstream straight section to the first bend, three pools and upstream deflectors were created. As the bed of the newly created two downstream pools of this sequence (photos 2-5) had flinty-gravel present, this was sprinkled on the bed of the narrowed channel upstream to accentuate the improved speed of flow into the pools, and improve the habitat variability within the reach. Material dug from pools to form the upstream shoulders that narrowed the channel were blinded by sedge/reed from the adjacent field. These features were enlarged by further sedge/reed sods.
Monitoring surveys and results
Lessons learnt
Catchment and subcatchment
Edit the catchment and subcatchment details
(affects all case studies in this subcatchment)
Catchment
River basin district | Anglian |
---|---|
River basin | North West Norfolk |
Subcatchment
River name | Nar |
---|---|
Area category | |
Area (km2) | |
Maximum altitude category | |
Maximum altitude (m) | |
Dominant geology | |
Ecoregion | |
Dominant land cover | |
Waterbody ID |
Site
Name | Castle Acre |
---|---|
WFD water body codes | |
WFD (national) typology | |
WFD water body name | |
Pre-project morphology | Single channel, Impounded, Straightened |
Reference morphology | Single channel, Pool-riffle, Sinuous |
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) | 300300 m <br />0.3 km <br />30,000 cm <br /> |
---|---|
Project started | |
Works started | 2011/03/01 |
Works completed | 2011/03/31 |
Project completed | |
Total cost category | |
Total cost (k€) | |
Benefit to cost ratio | |
Funding sources | Environment Agency/Norfolk Rivers Internal Drainage Board |
Cost for project phases
Phase | cost category | cost exact (k€) | Lead organisation | Contact forename | Contact surname |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | |
---|---|
Hydromorphology | Width & depth variation |
Biology | |
Physico-chemical | |
Other reasons for the project |
Measures
Structural measures
| |
---|---|
Bank/bed modifications | Creation of pools and riffles |
Floodplain / River corridor | |
Planform / Channel pattern | Channel narrowing |
Other | |
Non-structural measures
| |
Management interventions | |
Social measures (incl. engagement) | |
Other |
Monitoring
Hydromorphological quality elements
Element | When monitored | Type of monitoring | Control site used | Result | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Before measures | After measures | Qualitative | Quantitative |
Biological quality elements
Element | When monitored | Type of monitoring | Control site used | Result | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
---|
Supplementary Information
Edit Supplementary Information