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Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 18, 2020 15:32:04 GMT
Years of failing to maintain the navigable depth of our various river navigations on the part of BWB and their wretched successors, and aided and abetted by the equally useless EA, have led directly to the pattern and magnitude of the present flooding.
This of course is strenuously denied by the authorities responsible for the increasingly hazardous situations which manifest themselves on and around our waterways after spells of unusually heavy rain. An effective government targeted campaign for remedial action on the part of authorities responsible for creating this worsening mess is urgently needed before things get any more out of hand.
Who wants to join in and help ?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2020 15:38:30 GMT
What can be done ... after all aren't the EA and C&RT the government's appointed 'experts' ?
Rog
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Post by naughtyfox on Feb 18, 2020 15:42:51 GMT
Glue yourself to a train, Rog?
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Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 18, 2020 15:56:51 GMT
What can be done ... after all aren't the EA and C&RT the government's appointed 'experts' ? Rog Yes, . . God help us, . . they are, . . but think back to the situation which developed on the Somerset Levels from December 2013 into early 2014. The local population, especially farmers and landowners, had anticipated the problems that heavy persistent rain would bring to the area and had, to no avail, been asking the EA to carrying out essential dredging on the network of rivers that drain the Somerset Levels. After the EA were proved wrong and the predicted inundation arrived, the EA were successfully pressurized into an extensive dredging program to reverse the effects of years of neglect.
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Post by peterboat on Feb 18, 2020 17:04:14 GMT
What can be done ... after all aren't the EA and C&RT the government's appointed 'experts' ? Rog Yes, . . God help us, . . they are, . . but think back to the situation which developed on the Somerset Levels from December 2013 into early 2014. The local population, especially farmers and landowners, had anticipated the problems that heavy persistent rain would bring to the area and had, to no avail, been asking the EA to carrying out essential dredging on the network of rivers that drain the Somerset Levels. After the EA were proved wrong and the predicted inundation arrived, the EA were successfully pressurized into an extensive dredging program to reverse the effects of years of neglect. Ian of Tipos marine used to dredge, but the job went tits up when the dredgings, that previously used to be put on the land wasnt allowed by EU pollution rules! it has to be tested and put in designated tips at huge cost, and thats why he says dredging has stopped or nearly stopped. We both know that building flood defenses is a waste of time the real problem is the top is to close to the bottom and continues dredging is required to stop rivers silting up but the expense and lack of land to get rid of the dredgings make this impossible.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2020 17:20:21 GMT
I have been told by BW staff in the past, that disposing of spoils was the single biggest problem ... but C&RT have now added a bigger problem having sold off the equipment.
Rog
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Post by bodger on Feb 18, 2020 17:31:23 GMT
In many locations, including the Somerset Levels the clue is in the name - much of the land is below high tide levels and historically were wetlands. Dredging will only work if there is an adequate discharge into the sea, and this relies on pumping, discharging only when the tide is low, or a combination of both. If everything else is set up to discharge any flows that reach the coast then dredging will help, but in practice this is an ideal solution that is not sustainable.
Much as the residents and farmers would wish otherwise, as the global sea levels rise and climate change produces more extreme rainfall events, this area will (I predict) be sacrificed to the sea, or at least to become a permanent wetland, simply because keeping them flood-free is unsustainable in terms of cost/benefit.
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Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 18, 2020 17:37:02 GMT
Yes, . . God help us, . . they are, . . but think back to the situation which developed on the Somerset Levels from December 2013 into early 2014. The local population, especially farmers and landowners, had anticipated the problems that heavy persistent rain would bring to the area and had, to no avail, been asking the EA to carrying out essential dredging on the network of rivers that drain the Somerset Levels. After the EA were proved wrong and the predicted inundation arrived, the EA were successfully pressurized into an extensive dredging program to reverse the effects of years of neglect. Ian of Tipos marine used to dredge, but the job went tits up when the dredgings, that previously used to be put on the land wasnt allowed by EU pollution rules! it has to be tested and put in designated tips at huge cost, and thats why he says dredging has stopped or nearly stopped. We both know that building flood defenses is a waste of time the real problem is the top is to close to the bottom and continues dredging is required to stop rivers silting up but the expense and lack of land to get rid of the dredgings make this impossible. It's only years of crackpot thinking on the part of the EA that's made dredgings disposal prohibitively expensive. For far too long now they have routinely, and generally for no good reason, classified virtually all dredgings as 'toxic' waste which has to be dealt with appropriately. This is utter nonsense of course, and it simply has to stop !
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Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 18, 2020 17:47:13 GMT
In many locations, including the Somerset Levels the clue is in the name - much of the land is below high tide levels and historically were wetlands. Dredging will only work if there is an adequate discharge into the sea, and this relies on pumping, discharging only when the tide is low, or a combination of both. If everything else is set up to discharge any flows that reach the coast then dredging will help, but in practice this is an ideal solution that is not sustainable. Much as the residents and farmers would wish otherwise, as the global sea levels rise and climate change produces more extreme rainfall events, this area will (I predict) be sacrificed to the sea, or at least to become a permanent wetland, simply because keeping them flood-free is unsustainable in terms of cost/benefit. EA propaganda, . . and not relevant to the present situation on our navigable rivers and river navigations ! The Dutch are rather good at coping successfully with situations such as you describe, . . why do we have to be so utterly helpless in the face of considerably less severe difficulties ?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2020 18:04:54 GMT
In many locations, including the Somerset Levels the clue is in the name - much of the land is below high tide levels and historically were wetlands. Dredging will only work if there is an adequate discharge into the sea, and this relies on pumping, discharging only when the tide is low, or a combination of both. If everything else is set up to discharge any flows that reach the coast then dredging will help, but in practice this is an ideal solution that is not sustainable. Much as the residents and farmers would wish otherwise, as the global sea levels rise and climate change produces more extreme rainfall events, this area will (I predict) be sacrificed to the sea, or at least to become a permanent wetland, simply because keeping them flood-free is unsustainable in terms of cost/benefit. why do we have to be so utterly helpless in the face of considerably less severe difficulties ? $$$
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Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 18, 2020 18:16:39 GMT
why do we have to be so utterly helpless in the face of considerably less severe difficulties ? $$$ No, . . the problem is the corporate mindset of the two authorities primarily responsible for all our waterways, with each of them vying to be even more useless than the other, . . and being consistently encouraged and excused by the terminally gullible !
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2020 18:26:03 GMT
I believe and accept, you know more about the detail of this TonyDunkley than I do ... but I'm still wondering what we can do ? Rog
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Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 18, 2020 18:36:35 GMT
I believe and accept, you know more about the detail of this TonyDunkley than I do ... but I'm still wondering what we can do ? Rog I think the first recourse has to be your MP, Rog, . . along with as much supporting pressure as can be had through the MP's of friends, acquaintances, and anyone else directly affected.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2020 18:43:18 GMT
No, . . the problem is the corporate mindset of the two authorities primarily responsible for all our waterways, with each of them vying to be even more useless than the other, . . and being consistently encouraged and excused by the terminally gullible ! You forgot the congenitally apathetic. And they live there.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2020 18:52:12 GMT
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