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British Waterways Outlines Its Plans To Overcome The Loss Of The Chasewater Feed To The Birmingham Canal Navigations

British Waterways (BW) has moved to reassure boaters, event organisers and waterside businesses by preparing measures to manage water levels on the Birmingham Canal Navigations over the course of the Chasewater Reservoir works.

Lichfield District Council, which owns and maintains the Chasewater Reservoir, is due to start essential dam repair works in May 2010 which will result in reduced water resources available for the area’s canal network.

The reservoir is one of the main water supplies for 198-miles of canal which attracts thousands of boaters each year and supports a number of waterside businesses including boat repair yards, hire boat operators, trip boats, marinas, moorings and cruising clubs. BW has been working with affected groups to explore the implications of the works and is proposing the following measures to respond to the loss of water feed from Chasewater.

• Carrying out works to improve the efficiency of the existing Earlswood Lakes feeder supply to reduce demand on the Wolverhampton level

• Increasing weed cutting on the Bradley Arm to improve water flow into the canal network

• Strengthening the maintenance regime and intorducing a new control system at Bradley Pumps

• Increasing water control and optimising all water resources. For example by closely monitoring and managing flows over weirs to avoid wasting remaining water supplies

• Locking of the Wolverhampton level at night to allow Bradley Pumps to restore water levels

One or more of the actions could be taken at any time over the course of the works depending on factors such as canal usage patterns, rainfall and summer temperatures.

Following recent media coverage BW is also keen to reassure event organisers who may be concerned about the possible impact of the repair works on their events.

BW is very supportive of canal festivals, which bring a great deal of colour and life to the canal network, and is working with event organisers to try and retain as many events as possible. In some cases it may be necessary to consider alternative locations, dates and the number of boats attending and BW is working with individual event organisers to assess these issues.

BW has not cancelled any events unilaterally. Events have only been cancelled after discussions with the organisers and in some cases the event has not been cancelled but moved to a different location or reduced in scale. Any event organisers with concerns are advised to contact the local Waterway Manager Dean Davies on 01827 252000 as soon as possible to discuss their plans.

Mr Davies said; "Since we received initial notification of these works by Lichfield District Council we’ve arranged and attended a significant number of meetings with canal trusts, event organisers and waterside businesses in the area. These meetings have been very well received by all parties and as a result we’ve been able to identify a number of measures which we all hope will enable us to manage water levels sufficiently. We are very grateful for everyone’s input.

"Clearly we’ll need the weather to be kind to us but at this stage we’re not advising any boater to change their cruising plans. However we will keep people informed on developments over the coming weeks and months."

Graham Whorton, Chairman of the Birmingham Canal Navigations Society said; "It is unfortunate that British Waterways are being attacked over the decision to close some canal festivals and rallies because of the essential works that are being carried out at the Chasewater Reservoir.

"The BCN Society, while being disappointed that they cannot carry out their full programme of events, support BW’s request, after discussions with the event organisers, to postpone some events to ensure that water levels are maintained. As well as causing problems for navigation and sites of special scientific interest, low water levels may cause considerable damage to banks, retaining walls and other structures on the 200 year old canal system.

"The BCN Society hopes that the essential works on the Chasewater dam are completed to schedule so that events due to take place in 2011 will not be affected."