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E
Ennerdale Mill Weir, located on the River Ehen in Egremont (Grid Ref NY 012099) dates back over 250 years and was constructed to power the Ennerdale Paper Mill. The Weir has not been used as it was intended for many years and has been proven to be a barrier to migratory species of fish in the Ehen catchment, as well as a crucial site for Freshwater Mussels.
A consortium of funders- WCRT, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and James Fisher Nuclear- have combined resources to enable this weir removal project to take place over the summer of 2018. The project was delivered as part of the Cumbria River Restoration Strategy, a partnership between the EA, NE and WCRT.
In June 2018, we mobilized to site to begin the delicate task of removing the weir, without causing ecological damage through the uncontrolled release of silt and sediment into the river system. A specialized contractor, Ebsford Environmental, were chosen to deliver the works, ensuring silt control measures were installed downstream of the weir. In addition, prior to the works, WCRT and Natural England conducted a translocation of freshwater mussels from within the work site, re-locating 48 mussels upstream of Egremont.
The working methodology, developed by WCRT and AECOM, involved river bank re-profiling, berm lowering, re-grading of the existing riverbed & installation of toe protection (boulders that reinforce the river bank to provide protection against erosion), all conducted in a specific order to minimise sediment disturbance. Once the preparation was complete (approx. 4 weeks) we were ready to ‘notch’ the weir which lowered the water levels upstream, allowing the sediment & gravels that had built up over decades to be removed in the dry. Removing the weir structure itself took one week, and throughout that process Durham University were conducting heritage recording of the site so that we have a historic record of the structure of the weir.
With the weir structure removed, the final tasks were to re-profile the riverbed and rapids upstream and downstream, and further strengthen the river banks with stone protection.
Works completely finished on 31st July 2018, meaning the whole project was delivered in around 7 weeks.
The Rivers Trust and the Environment Agency, supported by other partners, have been working with the Marine Management Organisation and Defra to develop a coordinated and funded programme of projects for 2018/19 with the aim of freeing migration routes of barriers to fish.This project is part of that programme funded by over £1.6 million of European Maritime and Fisheries Funds, which is matched by more than £1 million of Agency/Defra funding and £300,000 of other funds.
Environment Agency Officers have worked with local farmers to provide advice and deliver improvement works to address phosphate / sediment issues predominantly in the River Ecclesbourne catchment.
The Ecclesbourne Restoration Catchment Partnership developed from one of the ten Defra WFD pilots in 2011. A number of schemes were identified to tackle diffuse pollution (phosphate) issues. Severn Trent Water is addressing phosphate input from sewage treatment works and this project addresses other ‘Reasons for failure’ from agriculture. +
L
Executive summary
The Love Your River Telford project is a holistic, all inclusive, partnership approach, addressing urban pollution with the aim of improving water quality and habitat around the watercourses of Telford while at the same time improving protection of downstream potable drinking water supply abstractions.
Initial funding was secured and the first year of the project ran from 1st April 2014 until 31 March 2015. There have been many achievements in the first year of the project detailed in this report.
Through bringing together organisations with similar aspirations and working with, volunteers, schools, business, and the local community a large number of benefits for both the environment and the whole community were realised. Watercourses have already shown some signs of improvement earlier than expected.
In addition to the benefits mentioned above large financial savings were also achieved for a number of participating organisations through the unique, efficient and proactive approach. This includes a potential saving well in excess of £1M for Severn Trent Water. Details of these figures and how they are calculated are found in this report.
There has been much interest in the project from the media and other organisations. A BBC radio miniseries was completed on the project, there is a blog on the .GOV.UK website and there has been a lot of interest on social media. The project will also be highlighted at an international conference in Ireland in November 2015 as an example of best practice. All of this attention has resulted in other towns and cities showing an interest in the model developed in Telford with Bromsgrove already implementing it in 2015.
The Environment Agency through DEFRA Grant in Aid funding has been the main contributor to this project with some partner match funding. Further funds have been secured to continue the project to 31 March 2016. This source of this funding however is expected to significantly decrease beyond March 2016 so the partners are seeking other funding sources to continue to develop what appears to be a successful approach with many benefits and one that can be shared with other towns and cities with urban pollution issues.
Introduction
Love Your River Telford is a project aimed at working with and empowering the whole of the town’s community to improve water quality and the natural habitat, enhancing their own environment.
There was 4 government organisations, 4 non-government organisations, 1 water company, 1 university, 16 community groups and an industry led environmental group with 140 members all working to try and improve water quality, biodiversity and flooding in Telford, a town with a population of around 150,000 people.
As in most towns these various bodies were working generally independently of each other resulting in inefficiencies while frequently treading on each other’s toes, occasionally resulting in strained relationships.
The Love Your River Telford project decided to take the initiative, build on the foundations laid by the successful preceding Catchment Restoration Fund project and implement a bold unique approach to attempt to get all organisations to work in partnership together while including and empowering the rest of Telford’s community to work alongside us on a scale not seen anywhere else before.
Telford now has an all inclusive joined up and innovative approach where all the different parts of the community feel involved and valued and know how they can help to improve the town’s water quality, biodiversity and flooding issues. This approach has already proved to be significantly more efficient and cost effective by proactively resolving issues before they become a greater problem and by empowering communities who are already out in the town everyday to identify pollution and report it.
As well as improving water quality and habitat in the town the work has also help safeguard the highly important downstream potable abstractions against pollution.
You only need to walk around Telford to see there are problems that need resolving to improve water quality.
The Ketley Brook in Telford
The Mad Brook in Telford
There are 8 water bodies in Telford. All are failing to meet Water Framework Directive targets either partially of wholly due to urban diffuse pollution.
An all inclusive project
How we have worked to include the whole community in enhancing their own environment can be seen in detail below:
Clean Stream Team
The Clean Stream Team is at the hub of the project. The team consists of 2 people, one from the Environment Agency and one from Severn Trent Water. They are supported by Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Telford & Wrekin Council. They work together on a full time basis, to proactively seek and resolve as many urban pollution issues as possible for the life of the project.
They receive further support from the other 10 stakeholders on the project steering group and importantly the whole of the rest of Telford’s community. This is achieved by:
1. Volunteer groups
A network of 16 “friends of ...” volunteer groups have received 6 full day training sessions and have been supplied with sampling equipment to allow them to monitor for and identify signs of pollution to Telford’s watercourses.
Any pollution identified by the volunteer groups is fed into the Clean Stream Team to resolve
2. Local Community
A project leaflet has been developed to help Telford’s residents to identify pollution, correct any of their own drainage mis-connections and informs them how to report any pollution they might identify.
Any pollution identified by the community is fed into the Clean Stream Team to resolve.
3. Business community
The Business Environmental Support Scheme for Telford (BESST) has been tasked by the project to develop an award scheme to recognise pollution prevention innovation. This has opened up a new line of communication with businesses in Telford. BESST’s 140 members have received information regarding pollution prevention and how to identify pollution and have teamed up with volunteer groups to help identify and address issues.
Any pollution identified by the business community is fed into the Clean Stream Team to resolve.
4. Stakeholder organisations
Many of the stakeholders involved with the project have pollution reporting systems. The project creates one system where any water pollution reported is passed to the Clean Stream Team to investigate.
Any pollution reported to or identified by other organisations is fed into the Clean Stream Team to resolve.
5. Schools
Shropshire Wildlife Trust worked in 10 schools in Telford either through a short session or a full 6 week River Ranger Programme to teach Telford’s children about habitat, water pollution and how to identify it and report it. Details on the innovative full 6 week programme can be found below.
Any pollution identified by the school children in Telford is fed into the Clean Stream Team to resolve.
An example of how a volunteer report triggers a Clean Stream Team response in practiice can be seen in Appendix B.
The innovative approach
During the development phase of the project all partners agreed that the project should aim towards an innovative approach. All of the partner’s ideas were subsequently gathered and the Love Your River Telford project was created.
So why is it innovative?
There are a number of elements to the project that have not been considered before, are ideas from previous projects taken a step further or have not been implemented on the scale of a town the size of Telford before (pop 100,000). These include:
1. Clean Stream Team
The idea to work in partnership to resolve urban pollution came from the Operation Streamclean project in Bristol. This project took that model much further. Rather than a standalone team involving the main organisations concerned with urban pollution, this project involves all 12 organisations working on water quality in the town. It also importantly includes the whole of the town’s community making them the “4th member” of the team.
By providing the volunteer groups with training and chemical, invertebrate and aquatic plant monitoring equipment they have become an extremely valued early warning to water pollution. In addition to the Environment Agency’s routine monitoring the volunteer’s data helps us to better understand the sources of the pollution with any issues identified immediately passed to the Clean Stream Team to investigate and resolve.
Now everyone is working together with a common goal.
2. Blue Business Award
Telford is lucky enough to have the Business Environmental Support Scheme for Telford (BESST), a very active industry led environmental advice group with over 140 member businesses. Telford also has 3 very large industrial estates with hundreds of business based in the town. It also subsequently has a history of significant pollution incidents from these areas due to poor pollution prevention practises.
As one of the members of the project steering group, BESST have accepted the challenge of creating a new unique annual award recognising innovation in pollution prevention and water efficiency. The award is open to all businesses in Telford and creates a new positive opportunity to reach many more businesses than would usually be possible through a routine pollution prevention campaign and opens up a new forum for sharing best practice and delivering advice.
The 1st award ceremony is planned for the end of 2015.
3. SUDS incentive scheme
Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are widely thought to be the answer to addressing urban pollution, reducing flood risk and creating new habitat. They are also considered by business to rarely be cost beneficial and as such rarely adopted by businesses.
With support from Shropshire Wildlife trust through the previous Catchment Restoration Funding (CRF) Ricoh, one of the town’s largest businesses has completed feasibility studies to show that such a system can be cost beneficial by considering reduced business risk as well as reduced discharge fees.
That same CRF project secured funding for a community based rain garden SUDS located on the Mad Brook in the Stirchley area of Telford. The SUDS has already reduced flooding in that locality while removing sediment rich runoff from entering the local watercourse.
The project aims to use these exemplars to encourage SUDS in Telford and to encourage Severn Trent Water to reduce fees for businesses who discharge to surface water via an implemented SUDS scheme.
4. School Education programmes
The River Rangers programme developed by Shropshire Wildlife Trust takes water quality and urban pollution school education programmes a step further.
The 6 week programme focuses on hands on learning. It uses a full water audit of the school and the construction of retro SUDS by the children in the school grounds as a unique way to help them learn about and understand the problems faced by urban watercourses.
I
FAMP’s case study began in 2017 and aimed at establishing a participated governance for the Odiel Marshes Biosphere Reserve (Huelva, Andalusia, Spain). The Andalusian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FAMP) held a series of participatory events in Nov-2017, Feb-2018, Mar-2018, Jun-2018 and Feb-2019 (Final Conference) involving various stakeholders. The “River Contract Methodology” was used, consisting in a broad participation process, involving all agents of the basin and public entities linked to water management, where public and private interlocutors commit themselves to a common river management project. The method was used to elicit stakeholder needs, expectations, motivations and conflicts. Participatory events also tap into subjective experiences and are an efficient way to collect large amounts of data that describes, compares, or explains a social phenomenon because they allow participants to interact with one another and build on one another’s comments, and they allow the facilitators to probe for details. This participatory process was successful as the number of events held was ideal, allowing the completion of the proposed objectives, such as the development, sharing and assessing of trend and alternative scenarios for the pilot area.
In order to increase engagement, a series of bilateral visits/meetings of a technical nature were held, in which technicians and politicians of the different entities met FAMP to carry out a more concrete study and definition of the first draft operations included in the preferred scenario committed to be included in the Action Plan. Finally, 11 main actions were included in the action plan to be implemented in the future.
As a result of this participatory process, a number of existing positive aspects and problems capable of being improved over time through the Wetland Contract were revealed. With regard to Governance, the main issues identified were those related to Multi-level coordination and governance system; Extension of the procedures and bureaucracy; and Scientific and technical dissemination and dissemination strategy of the Biosphere Reserve. Related to the Environment, the problems encountered were mostly related to the lack of operations for the environment conservation; and of strategies including diffusion, education and citizen awareness. Lastly, regarding the Economic and Social Development, the issues that should be improved were related to the Promotion of new alternative sustainable development systems; strengthening public, private and citizen involvement; and the creation of Odiel Marshes Biosphere Reserve brand.
Therefore, a new vision of the Odiel Marshes Biosphere Reserve as an area of connection with nature and as a tool for creating wealth and quality employment emerged, in the form of a list of possible actions and measures to be included in the Action Plan, derived from the preferred consensual scenario. The typology of these actions was related to communication, awareness raising and training, to management and governance or more concrete actions included in the Wetland Contract:
1. Rehabilitation and valorisation of the Cojillas tidal mill
2. Recovery, conservation and valorisation of Cárdenas marshes
3. Connection project and use of livestock tracks and rural roads as green corridor
4. Enhancement of the connection marsh-city in front of 26 de Abril de 1963 square and estuary promenade
5. Project for the connection and use of livestock tracks and rural roads as green corridors (Odiel river border to the hanging bridge of a-49)
6. Enhancement of the marsh-city connection in front of the San Felice de Circeo promenade and the surroundings of the Tejar stream
7. Sustainable tourism in the Odiel marshes biosphere reserve
8. “Marismas del Odiel, Cero es Más” campaign
9. Environmental education campaigns on the Odiel marshes
10. Promotion of green infrastructures, connected to the "Biosphere Reserve Brand"
11. Eco-innovation (ECOMO) Odiel marshes (incubator and accelerator of eco-entrepreneurs and green employment).
As for the model of agreement, since the Spanish law doesn’t allow the signing of a bidding Wetland Contract, the choice was to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation based of the agreed Action plan. The purpose of this Memorandum was to establish the basis for collaboration between the signatory Parties in relation to the development and implementation of the WetNet Action Plan for the Odiel Marshes Biosphere Reserve Pilot Area. Nonetheless, the signing of this instrument does not involve any conflict of competences of the signatory Administrations or any economic commitment. Furthermore, none of the Parties assumes any economic commitment by virtue of the MemoWetNet, and the WetNet Action Plan for the Odiel Marshes Biosphere Reserve will have no contractual character of any nature.
The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between FAMP (Andalusian Federation of Municipalities and Provinces) and the members of the Odiel Marshes Territorial Laboratory. The main challenge encountered was obtaining the signature of all parties involved.
FAMP has found it easier to obtain the signatures of the public entities and administrations that had participated in the Odiel Marshes Territorial Lab: Odiel Marshes Board of Trustees and Odiel Marshes Natural Reserve and Biosphere Reserve (Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Sustainable Development Regional Ministry), Punta Umbria City Council, Aljaraque City Council, Gibraleón City Council and Huelva City Council.
The WetNet Action Plan for the Odiel Marshes Biosphere Reserve foresees continuous consultations and dialogues between citizens, economic and social agents, civil organizations and the competent authorities and institutions affected by the Odiel Marshes Biosphere Reserve. That is the reaon why a WetNet Odiel Marshes Committee was proposed through the Memorandum of Cooperation in order to provide a framework for consultation. As a mechanism for follow-up, monitoring and control of the implementation of the Action Plan, the Committee will act, resolving any problems of interpretation and compliance that may arise with respect to the Memorandum and the WetNet Action Plan for the Odiel Marshes Biosphere Reserve Pilot Area.
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Facilitate the passage of elvers around Clitherow's Island, Brentford. A Canal and River Trust asset. A desire to improve the River Brent in all aspects, but particularly for fish health and connectivity. +
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Facilitate the passage of elvers around Thames Lock Weir, Brentford. Hounslow Council land. A desire to improve the River Brent in all aspects, but particularly for fish health and connectivity. +
P
Facilitate the passage of elvers around Osterley Weir, Hanwell Environment Trust asset. A desire to improve the River Brent in all aspects, but particularly for fish health and connectivity. +
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Facilitate the passage of elvers around Stoney Sluice, Brentford A Canal and River Trust asset. A desire to improve the River Brent in all aspects, but particularly for fish health and connectivity. +
F
Farming for Water (F4W) is designed to help reduce diffuse water pollution from agricultural practices, however our work has multiple benefits for the wider environment.
Farming for Water is built up of the following schemes:
• STEPS (Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme)
• Farm to Tap
• Pesticide Management - training, amnesty and machine calibration clinics
• Specialised advice visits
• Great Farm Challenge
The programme commenced in 2015 and forms part of a 25 year programme of work. We have a team of 7 internal Agricultural Advisors and 12 partnership Agricultural Advisors delivering F4W, across 27 catchments. The Agricultural Advisors engage with farmers through one to one visits, workshops, demonstrations, training, and specialised visits.
Our main schemes are STEPS and Farm to Tap. STEPS offers grants to farmers to undertake works which will help reduce diffuse pollution. There are a wide variety of grants and options available to choose from; which are designed to deliver reduced run off of pesticides, nutrients, and sediment to water courses. Many of the grant options require specialist visit and we are the first water company to partner with NE’s Farm Advice Framework contract. This allows us to offer tailored farm advice visits through an established framework of approved technical expert contractors.
STEPS pays a fixed rate grant per item up to a maximum of £5000 per year. The grant price represents an estimated 50% of the total cost of a capital or land management items. The grants window is open annually from January to March.
The Farm to Tap scheme is available to arable farmers within our priority catchments. The scheme has run in its current form from 2016. It is run annually from September to December each year during the high risk pesticide run-off period. Farm to Tap rewards farmers for producing cleaner run off from their land and improving water quality downstream of their farm. Initially trialled from 2012 – 2015, it is one of the first water company payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes with farmers providing us with an ecological service. This is in contrast to paying farmers to adopt specific mitigation methods on an individual farm basis. The approach acknowledges that co-ordinated action is needed across the catchment to see improvements in water quality, and that by stimulating outcomes rather than actions, land owners and farmers may take greater ownership of water quality issues.
A
Fernegair Weir is one of two barriers on the Avon Water that are the focus of the Avon Barriers Project. This project is being undertaken in partnership between The Rivers & Fisheries Trust for Scotland, SEPA, South Lanarkshire Council and the Clyde River Foundation.
Ferniegair weir is approximately 60m wide. The crest has a lower section at the left bank (looking downstream). The majority of the crest is approximately 2.5m above the downstream bed level. The structure is skewed to the direction of flow at an angle of approximately 30 degrees.
Historical maps indicate that there has been a mill on this site since at least the mid-1700s, predating the railway viaduct and the A72 bridge. It is therefore likely that there has been some form of impoundment in the river at this general site for some time. OS Mapping from an 1858 survey indicates a “dam” present at the site of the current weir, and no railway viaduct at this time (see Figure 2-3). It is estimated that the present weir was built between 1880 and 1920.
No as-built drawings are available for the structure. Previous reports suggest that the construction of the weir is timber frame, which has since been encased with a concrete apron in the 1940’s. It is believed that this was built directly onto the bedrock which outcrops along much of the reach.
Feasibility & optioneering for improving fish passage across this structure has just been completed and the options are being assessed with a view to moving forward to design and build. +
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First economic valuations of ecosystem services in B&H have been performed within WWF Project “Living Neretva” for two different ecosystems in Neretva river corridor, during 2010-2011:
• Pilot study - Hutovo Blato Wetland and
• Bilećko jezero (Bileća Lake).
Hutovo Blato is a unique Mediterranean wetland in the delta of the Neretva River, which extends to 7,441 ha and in 2001 was registered in the list of Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention). Bileća lake, on the river Trebišnjica, is the largest artificial reservoir in the Balkans, lake area is about 33 km2, depending on water levels. It was made for the purpose of hydropower production and is managed by "Hydropower Plant on Trebišnjica".
Developing and ensuring the bottom up and top down approaches and their combinations through stakeholder dialogue is a solution to address these water management problems, existing ecosystem services or their enhancement. Giving way to democratic solutions through implementation of future project activities in relation to giving examples of undertaking of river restoration actions as best practices, should create favorable conditions for a dialogue at all levels and should facilitate public participation in decision-making, including the local level, where most action takes place, thus building trust, ensuring ownership and improving cooperation.
It is crucial to integrate nature conservation aspects into the existing hydropower system and apply the relevant EU directives and modern standards before further hydropower development on the Neretva River.
WWF is committed to implementing the principles of integrated water management in the Neretva and Trebišnjica basin, in the framework of which disagreements about managing energy system, meeting the needs of agriculture and conserving key ecosystems need to be addressed and resolved. +
S
Fish Refuge creation (aeration devise) and habitat creation Provide a fish refuge from low dissolved oxygen spates which occur as a result of storms in the Lee Navigation resulting in the death of a number of fish. +
H
Flood plain restoration is progressing (NGR: TQ5283586428).<br>Proposed works:<br>- Deculverting at downstream end at lakes, removing concrete<br>- Removal of lido steps<br>The Ravensbourne has been heavily modified, the downstream section deculverted. It runs through the middle of the park and is the main feature. It’s currently an eyesore and parts of it provide very little habitat for wildlife. The project is listed on the Green Grid list. The GLA support this project and contributed to the funding for the scoping report. +
E
Flood releases from the dams (a.o.the Flix Dam) were managed by the dam operator
(Endesa Generación S.A.) and controlled by the Ebro Basin authority.
After two consecutive dry years that led to substantial hydrological and
ecological concerns regarding river dynamics and the interaction with
human uses, an understanding was reached in 2002 among the hydropower
operator, the water authorities, and the scientific community to
promote the release of flushing flows. Except for in 2004 and 2005,
since then flushing flows have been performed on a regular basis, twice
a year (in autumn and spring). The discharged floods have normally
required the delivery of about 36 hm3 over 16 h, with peak flows of 900
to 1300 m3
/s (each). +
Flood risk concerns and the likelihood of misconnections increased following a sudden change in the course of a perched stream in Lough Neagh (Northern Ireland) due to a heavy rainfall episode. An emergency plan for stream restoration was quickly drawn up by the Rivers Agency in consultation with local fisheries staff.
During four days works aimed to rebuild the breached bank and to connect the channel with the main rivers. A combination of bed raising and lowering in order to connect the channel also addressed the extent of channel incision. Flows were diverted into a quarry lagoon to prevent further flooding and allow channel re-grading works. Further action required filling the breach and restoring the channel with establishment of rock groynes to reduce flow velocity, prevent further incision and increase fish habitat. Follow-up enhancement works included the removal of a downstream flap valve and associated pipes (where the stream entered the Burndennet River) as well as the addition of step pools to help fish ascend through the perched culvert.
The River Restoration Centre would like to thank Gareth Geer from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for providing the information and pictures for this case study. +
T
Floodplain restoration and making space for water, as well as reedbed creation and the creation of wetland and grass habitat. Removal of invasive species (himalayan balsam control and self-sown sycamore removal). Floodplain restoration, reedbed and wetland and grass habitat creation. +
L
Floodplain widening from 13m to 45m.
Bed heightened by 2m. +
R
Flow regulation in the Rossåga watercourse (Rossågavassdraget) at the end of the 1950s resulted in, among other things, drastically reduced flow levels in an approximately 650 m long stretch of the river ("Sjøforsløpet") in the upper salmon-bearing part of Røssåga. There were low water velocities and large areas of stagnant water, while siltation and macrophyte overgrowth were considerable. Juvenile and spawning fish counts showed that the river stretch was of no significance for fish production in the river (O. Kanstad-Hanssen, pers. Medd. Lamberg et al. 2010).
When the need for rehabilitation of Nedre Røssåga kraftverk (the lower Rossåga power plant) came about, Statkraft decided to build a new power plant (Nye Nedre Rossåga kraftverk). This power plant was planned with an outlet under "Sjøforsen", i.e. at the upper part of the 650 m long, partially dry stretch of the river. A test of discharge water from the intake reservoir further up the watercourse showed that the planned maximum operating water supply from the new power plant (85-105 m3/s) would put large forest areas under water. It was therefore decided that these forest areas should be cleared and that a plan for the restoration of the riverbed be drawn up. The aim of the restoration was to optimize conditions for juvenile fish, given the planned operating discharge of 30-85 m3/s. +
L
Flowing from the Lincolnshire Wolds to the North Sea, the Long Eau drains a small catchment of 22.3 km2, but together with the Great Eau has a catchment area of 112.3 km2.
Before restoration, the river had become embanked and channelised to protect adjacent agricultural land from flooding. The flood banks were steeply sloped directly into the channel. Dredging and removal of bankside vegetation was part of the maintenance regime, which had removed morphological features, in channel habitats and natural substrate. Historically the Long Eau had a history of washlands, regularly flooding the land adjacent to the river.
Three sites were chosen along the Little ands Great Eau to demonstrate the relocation of flood banks and the provision of flood storage areas on neighbouring land. A secondary objective was to enhance habitats.
An environmental stewardship scheme offered a ten year grant scheme to farmers/landowners, some of whom were already supportive of the idea of nature conservation.
Long Eau at Manby-
Left floodbank was lowered to just above ground level. The adjacent field was widened and flattened to act as an over spill area (1 in 10 slope). Material generated from embankment removal was used to infill and Internal Drainage Board drain which ran through flood storage area. This drain was re located behind the new embankment to maintain land drainage. The new embankment slopes were 3:1 to a height of 2.5-2.7 meters.
Ledges and berms were created along the channel to increased habitat potential.
Performance 1995-2001-
Since completion flood protection has increased, as water spills onto new floodplain when channel reaches 2.6m or above. Below this level 75% of floodplain will retain water up to 0.5m for up to 4 months. This provides an important habitat for wetland birds. Lapwing and redshank have bred at the site.
The Environment Agency estimates a saving of £400-500 a year on the previous maintenance regime. +
P
Following successful completion of the Project Usk River Restoration, PURR2 turned our focus to the river above Brecon. PURR2 was a £67,000 project, funded by Beacons Trust and Environment Agency Wales (now Natural Resources Wales). Its primary objective was to restore 4km of tributary stream, along with the continuation of the invasive weeds programme and expanding the availability of fishing via the Passport within the National Park.
Habitat Improvements
Four sites were selected in the Senni catchment, an important spawning tributary of the upper Usk. Fencing and coppicing commenced at the end of 2012 and was completed by the end of April 2013. Just over 4km of river was restored. The main objective is to increase the numbers of salmon and trout but the work will also improve the biodiversity of the Usk and benefit UK BAP and/or Annex II SAC species such as otter, white clawed crayfish and lampreys, to name but a few.
Other Achievements
In November 2012, WUF, volunteers and Keep Wales Tidy joined a group of canoeists to clean up the river Usk between Sennybridge and Brynich Lock, below Brecon. The clean-up was a huge success with 50 bags of litter collected, along with the usual tyres, bikes and road signs. The litter was disposed of by Powys County Council.
Under PURR2, the Wye & Usk Passport’s Usk fishing was expanded further. 8 new beats were included in the 2013 Passport, taking the total Usk fisheries in the scheme to 38. 4 of these new beats were within the project area: Middle Senni; Ashford House; Canal & Rivers Trust (Llanfrynach) and Trallong & Abercamlais (extended previous Abercamlais beat).
The project also enabled us to continue our invasive weed eradication programme in the upper Usk catchment. In September 2012 we surveyed and sprayed Japanese knotweed plants along 37km of the main Usk and selected sites on the Rhiangholl and Menasgin tributaries. +