Case study:Bocking Blackwater River Restoration

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Location: 51° 53' 8.66" N, 0° 33' 37.43" E

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Project overview

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Status	In progress
Project web site	http://www.essexrivershub.co.uk
Themes	Habitat and biodiversity, Water quality, Urban
Country	England
Main contact forename	Kieren
Main contact surname	Alexander
Main contact user ID	User:KierenAlexander
Contact organisation	Essex Wildlife Trust
Contact organisation web site	http://www.essexwt.org.uk
Partner organisations
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

Project picture

Project summary

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Currently, the River Blackwater (Pant, upstream) is classed under the Water framework Directive as heavily modified with poor potential. It is this assessment that drives this restoration project. This project is funded by the Environment Agencies Catchment Restoration fund and is part of the Essex Healthy headwaters scheme. Physical earthworks are due to commence in Summer 2015.

The site is an urban location and is designated as a local nature reserve. It is locally well loved, being popular with walkers, runners and cyclists. A majority of it is close mown grassland, however,there are significant wilder zones in places which are more typical of a Local Nature reserve.

The main aspect of this project is to enhance the river banks by reducing erosion, poaching and silt inputs, the second is to improve riparian habitat and floristic diversity, as an added benefit there should also be an improvement in water quality produced by filtration of the newly established root network.

The river banks will be restored using a mixture of bio engineering schemes including Coir rolls, willow spiling and bank re-profiling combined with Coir pallets. The Coir pallets and roles will be seeded with a combination of native species including flag iris, purple loosestrife and watermint among others. The current condition of the riverbank is floristically poor with either a monoculture of reeds, nettles or the invasive species Himalayan balsam.

Whilst the project is not specifically targeted to deal with invasive species it is hoped that there will be some benefit derived from introducing increased floristic diversity and extra competition.

The final major element of the project is to protect and enhance a deeply eroded section of riverbank. As this is a steep and heavily degraded slope the use of coir rolls and pallets would not be appropriate. Therefore the design solution decided on was to use willow spilling and use the spoil created from the bank reprofiling works to backfill behind the spiling. The idea is then that overtime the willow roots would bind the bank together preventing erosion and offer shading reducing river temperatures in the river over the summer months.

There is some potential to enhance a wetland area, known locally as the spreads by creating a series of ponds and redirecting an existing drain. This will allow any water to be filtered and settled before entering the river. The ponds overtime will develop into fine habitat and support a number of specialist species.

All the above should add up to the an overall improvement of the local Riverine habitat and an improvement in the general water quality and hydro morphological condition of the river.

Monitoring surveys and results

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Fixed point photography will be used to monitor physical changes both post and pre work. In addition a baseline survey of macrophytes, invertebrates and water quality surveys – data gathered will include – turbidity, sediment, Ammonia/Dissolved Oxygen/Phosphate using field phosphate sampling equipment. This project site will be resurveyed against baseline at the conclusion of the project in 2015.

Lessons learnt

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There is significant Archaeological interest on the site. With an identified Roman Villa remains in the local area. This adds a significant cost element to the project. Investigations are currently underway to identify the implications for this project but this may make the pond and wetland enhancement uneconomic. Early contact with the local Archaeological unit is recommended.

Image gallery

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Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district Anglian River basin Combined Essex Subcatchment River name Blackwater Pant Area category 10 - 100 km² Area (km2) Maximum altitude category Less than 100 m Maximum altitude (m) 6868 m <br />0.068 km <br />6,800 cm <br /> Dominant geology Calcareous Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Arable and Horticulture Waterbody ID GB105037033860 Site Edit site Name Bocking Blackwater LNR 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 Yes 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 Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) 450450 m <br />0.45 km <br />45,000 cm <br /> Project started 2012/08/01 Works started 2016/08/07 Works completed Project completed Total cost category Total cost (k€) Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Essex Wildlife Trust Kieren Alexander Stakeholder engagement and communication Essex Wildlife Trust Kieren Alexander Works and works supervision Essex Wildlife Trust Kieren Alexander Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Hydromorphology Structure & condition of riparian/lake shore zones Biology Invertebrates, Macrophytes Physico-chemical Specific non-synthetic pollutants Other reasons for the project Improvement of a local park and local resources Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Soft engineering solutions, Bank improvement, Channel reprofiling, Bank reprofiling Floodplain / River corridor Erosion protection, Creation of backwater and ponds, Creation of wetland Planform / Channel pattern Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Awareness campaigns, Citizen participation in the restoration project, Increase awareness of flood issues Other Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit 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 Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description http://www.essexrivershub.co.uk For more information on this and other projects in Combined Essex catchment Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information