Property:Project summary
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
This is a property of type Text.
P
Install a bristle pass to improve eel passage.<br> Small weir makes passage difficult for eels. +
R
Install a natural fish bypass channel with technical off-take at Stitchcombe Mill, and undertake enhancement of existing length of River Kennet SSSI +
M
Installation of 15 stone plaques marking the course of the culverted Bradford Beck as it passes under the city centre +
C
Installation of a Biofilterto treat pesticide waste & roofing to reduce pesticide run off so protecting the CoundBrook tributary of the River Severn
A Farmer Advice Visit (Natural England provided specialist review of the farm set up) recommended their current pesticide handling area could be improved in order to reduce the risk of pesticide runoff
With the help of STEPS (Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme) funding and advice the farm constructed a roof to cover their pesticide washdown and handling area and enhanced their pesticide handling areas to reduce potential pesticide runoff
They also constructed a biofilter to filter the pesticide washings through organic material breaking down pesticides therefore removing them from farm runoff.
The roofing and biofilter cost nearly £11,000 in total of which the STEPS grant covered 45% of the cost with the farmer contributing the rest +
B
Installation of fencing and cattle drinks to reduce agri-diffuse pollution +
S
Installation of low tech, low cost structures designed to capture, slow and improve the quality of run-off from fields and rural roads:
Rural sustainable drainage systems(SuDs) slow down or prevent the transport of pollutants to watercourse by breaking the delivery pathway between the pollutant source and the receptor. This project was funded by DEFRA's Catchment Partnership Action Fund, supported by the environment programme team. There are 42 water bodies in the broadland rivers catchment that are not achieving good ecological due to diffuse pollution. +
H
Installation of woody debris and berms to increase habitat diversity:
The Reepham Stream is a tributary of the River Wensum located between Reepham and Cawston in Norfolk. Historic management and land drainage has led to a river channel that is deep in relation to surrounding ground, and contains little variation in habitat. Working with the IDB and NRT, a scheme was designed that would not increase flood risk but would enhance the habitat in stream to help improve its ecological status. This work will compliment the River Wensum Restoration Strategy. +
N
Installing woody debris flow deflectors to improve habitat and morphology of Nobles Green Ditch.
Nobles Green Ditch has historically ben heavily modified to improve flood protection and land drainage. It is failing to meet its WFD objectives for invertebrates. The mitigation measures assessment for the river revealed that measures were needed to improve in-channel morphological diversity. This project aims to address these issues. +
W
Intention to create off-line ponds, realign channel, introduce meanders and create reedbeds for filtration of run off. Beverley Brook flows constrained between housing and roads with predominately artificial banks. It suffers from pollution due to run off from adjacent road. There is a lot of tree cover and no macrophyte growth. +
R
It is part of the Norfolk Rivers Trust’s mission to gain the active participation of the community. Stakeholders help us to set objectives, keep us informed about issues on the ground such as pollution and actively volunteer to make many more worthwhile projects possible.
Norfolk Rivers Trust have recently started to work in the Burn catchment, and we were very pleased to receive over 80 people at our latest event at North Creake Village Hall.
An opportunity to restore a section of the River Burn by fencing off livestock and tree planting has already been identified with the aid of the landowner, and this project will be greatly helped by the help of volunteers. Norfolk Rivers Trust are grateful for the help which The Creake Abbey Trust has given to make this project happen, and hope that more projects will be initiated in the near future. +
S
It is part of the Norfolk Rivers Trust’s mission to gain the active participation of the community. Stakeholders help us to set objectives, keep us informed about issues on the ground such as pollution and actively volunteer to make many more worthwhile projects possible. We started getting to know the River Ingol from November 2013.
An opportunity to restore a section of the River Ingol by improving habitat has already been identified and carried out close to Snettisham, and this project was be greatly aided by the help of volunteers. We would also like to thank the Environment Agency who managed to substantially support this project with man-power, despite the cuts which have greatly depleted their ability to carry out the excellent work which they do. Norfolk Rivers Trust are grateful for the help which landowners have given to make this project happen, and hope that more projects will be initiated in the near future.
Whilst the first stage of this project was completed in June 2014, we have gained permission from the Environment Agency to continue this project in the Autumn. There were 2 objectives of this project. The first was to enhance the wildlife value for groups such as fish, aquatic birds and insects. A family of ducks has already been seen sheltering in the extra cover! Dace spawning relies on this stretch of the river and will also be enhanced by this project. Woody material in the river enhances spawning because it creates a variety of fast and slow flows which are useful of use for different life stages of fish. In particular, narrowing an over-widened stream such as the Ingol, in places, allows gravels to be kept clear by water flow and this means that fish eggs will have access to well-oxygenated water and will not be smothered by silt. The second aspect of the project was to use alder faggots to protect banks which were eroding due to unnatural causes (variously unnaturally high flows and water plant removal from banks).
Work included educating the community on environmental protection and promoting environmentally-friendly behaviour.
K
Jointly funded by Natural England and the Knepp Estate, the restoration of the upper reaches of the River Adur lies at the heart of the largest rewilding project in lowland UK.
The work, carried out by the Environment Agency, has involved removing 4 weirs, returning 2.4km of canalised river to its original meanders and linking it to 5.5kms of restored floodplain upstream.
It is part of a landscape-scale conservation enterprise aimed at restoring the full range of hydrological processes from the moment raindrops fall on the land, filtering through vegetation and the soil, to their passage into watercourses towards the sea.
This reach of the River Adur was enlarged and diverted to the edge of the floodplain at least two hundred years ago, in an attempt to improve land drainage and allow the land to be farmed more productively. This extensive modification created a deep, uniform trapezoidal channel that supported very little flow or habitat diversity and was largely cut off from its floodplain in all but the largest floods. The extent of channel enlargement meant that flows became very low during dry summer periods, with parts of the river resembling a series of connected ponds rather than a flowing channel. A sluice and two stepped weirs were installed in an attempt to maintain depths of flow, but these impounded flows, encouraged sedimentation and limited fish passage. As a result of these modifications, natural river processes were limited and the river did not support the range of habitats that would be expected, resulting in a failure to reach Good Ecological Status under the Water Framework Directive.
The main aim of the restoration project was therefore to physically modify the existing channel to restore natural river processes, reconnect the river to its floodplain, and create the conditions that are required to support a rich and varied range of habitats for plants, invertebrates and fish. The project formed part of the wider Knepp Castle Rewilding Project, which aims to produce a large scale minimal-intervention landscape.
Creation of 1 km of new meandering river channel with naturally variable bed and bank profiles. Re-naturalisation of an additional 1.5 km of channel through bank re-profiling. The uniform, high banks were “pushed” into the channel to create a low flow channel with natural bank profiles that support a range of emergent and marginal habitats.
The new channel has a much smaller capacity than the modified channel that it replaced, concentrating low flows and improving floodplain connectivity during periods of higher flow. Blocking and diversion of floodplain drains and creation of scrapes to retain water on the floodplain.
Works included: Realignment of 1km river channel to its former naturally meandering course. Removal of four obsolete in-channel structures to restore natural flow and sediment transport processes and allow the free passage of fish. Creation of two backwaters to provide valuable habitats for aquatic plants and invertebrates.
R
Juottimenoja brook is a small tributary of the Kiskonjoki-Perniönjoki River located in south-west Finland. The surrounding of Juottimenoja is intensively cultivated and the latest dredging was in 1970. The brook suffered severe erosion and siltation problems due to erosion-prone soil, intensive farming, and previous straightening. Juottimenoja brook was restored because fields were inundating during high flows. The objective of the restoration was to decrease water levels, and thus field flooding, and control the in-channel erosion during high flows and siltation during low flows as the aim to maintain the brook morphological and ecological diversity and self-purification capacity while meeting the drainage needs of the farmland. In the latest drainage project in 2007 flood terrace were excavated and nature-like submerged weirs were constructed to stop erosion. Besides drainage the environmentally sound measures could help to maintain the original sea trout population in the brook. +
K
Kensworth Quarry is the UK's largest chalk pit and is one of the largest in the world. It is located to the top of the Chilterns ridge close to the (now dry) head valleys of the River Ver which is is one of only 200 Chalk streams in the world.
The River Ver, like many other Chiltern chalk streams, has suffered from unsustainable water abstraction to support local development needs. Over the past decade the river has ceased to flow on the Chilterns dip slope above Redbourne and without hydro-support it is quite possible that the river will disappear above St Albans within the next couple of decades.
It is thought that River Ver has been flowing in this area since the Anglian Glacation 400,000 years ago and there may be a fantastic and unique opportunity to secure its future for a while longer.
Production from Kensworth Quarry is due to cease within the next decade after which it will be subject to a site restoration program. It is proposed that as part of the site restoration plan consideration be given to establishing a permanent perched reservoir as the focus of wetland nature reserve and 'Geopark' of international significance. The reservoir would also be used to provide head water support to the River Ver to revitalise the river and sustain flow throughout the year. In addition the perched reservoir could be used to as a pumped hydro energy storage facility to support the growing network of solar energy plants in the farmlands west of the Chilterns ridge. +
Kensworth Quarry is the Us largest chalk quarry and one of the largest in the world. It is located on the top of the Chilterns ridge close to the head valleys of the River Ver.
Production from the quarry is due to end within the next decade after which the site will be subject to a site restoration program.
It is proposed to evaluate the technical and commercial feasibility of using the chalk pit as a perched reservoir to provide a wetland natural habitat of national significance, to provide pumped hydro energy storage for local renewable energy generation plants, and to provide head water support to the River Ver for up to three months per year. +
Q
Kenton Brook is a main river that drains a predominantly urban catchment in Harrow and Brent. A 1km open channel drains through Queensbury Recreation Ground joining the Wealdstone Brook and eventually the River Brent. It is a significant pathway for flood flows that contribute to flooding downstream and is recognised as a Critical Drainage Area in the Harrow Surface Water Management Plan. +
R
Kier has been mining at the Greenburn Surface Mine Complex since 2003, employing 50% of staff from within a 10-mile radius, in an area of high unemployment.
An opportunity was realised where the River Nith, which runs through the site, could be enhanced with ecologically healthier reaches. The existing river reach was degraded because of historical agricultural pressures associated with vegetation clearance, excessive cattle poaching and bank reinforcement. Through realigning 500m of the river, the recovery of high quality coal resources in the area continued, which in turn enabled the considerable funding required to realise this project.
Kier spent six years researching and studying the River Nith with technical and scientific specialists, building on knowledge developed in this catchment. The scientific approach and stakeholder engagement was instrumental in the successful delivery of this project.
The realignment morphologies are based on a new conceptual approach to design and best practice river engineering methods to create hydraulic conditions which drive the full suite of fluvial processes that would naturally occur in the river.
The design considered the range of physical requirements in the channel form necessary to ensure sufficient diversity within which the full suite of hydraulic and geomorphic processes. This produced the most natural channel form as a product of interactions between hydraulic processes and the physical form of the river corridor (i.e. the natural channel type for the given reach conditions).
The key geomorphic characteristics of the existing river local to the reaches were replicated – slope gradient, bank full width and depth, and sinuosity. These variables were measured upstream and downstream with the captured data used to inform and guide the channel design. Replicating the 500m length of the original length and creating a natural slope, maintained the same energy gradient for flow conveyance and sediment transport, which in turn will maintain natural fluvial processes.
The natural levels of variability, together with sinuosity, aided the development of natural bed forms - allowing pools and riffles to form naturally through self-sorting rather than by creating artificial features.
The diversion improved the ecological status of the river with planting of willow along the diverted channel that naturally stabilise the river banks and once mature will create fish habitat by forming draped foliage at the water’s edge and dropping leaf litter into the water, enhancing the habitat for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and lamprey species (lampetra spp.). In addition, tree planting consisting of hazel, birch, rowan, aspen and hawthorn was undertaken on the diversion to provide additional natural stability to the banks and riparian corridor habitat that did not previously exist.
Within the river diversion scrapes were formed to promote the retention of water in discrete pools on the flood plain providing habitat for amphibians, birds and invertebrates. In addition, areas of dead wood and rocks were placed on the flood plain to provide amphibian refugia. These are additional features to what was there previously and are beneficial to the ecological status of the river and surrounding habitat.
To deliver the engineering works, our approach was to develop the new channel a year early in June 2011, with water flow introduced in August 2012. This enabled the channel to weather and bankside vegetation to establish reducing the necessity for engineering materials. Fundamentally, the realignment is set within a 50-metre wide river corridor to accommodate natural channel course adjustments. The substrate from old river channel was recovered while still wet ensuring rapid re-colonisation of invertebrates and plants in the new channel.
Upon completion of the new reach, electrofishing was used to relocate fish successfully.
Klingavälsån is situated in southern part of Skåne. The river is 30 km long and the catchment area is 240 km2. The river meanders through the bottom of the valley, and the river is surrounded by fertile land wich floods in winter and spring. This lush and diverse landscape, streches from Kävlingeån Rivet to Lake Sövdesjön, is part of the LIFEscape conservation project in wich municipalities of Lund ans Sjöbo participate.
The cetral area is protected as Natura 2000 area. Also the wetland area has international significance and is one of Skånes five Ramsar -convension wetlands.
The water fauna is remarkably rich and provides a habitat for many vulnerable species for example for the the thick shelled river mussel, Unio Crassus, and trout (Salmo trutta). The flooding areas also provide a profound significance for birds. +
Kostonjoki River is one of the tributaries of the River Iijoki. The River Kostonjoki was dredged for timber floating like many other tributaries of the River Iijoki. Before dredging in 1956-1958 there were 105 hectares of rapids and riffles in the Kostonjoki River. After dredging most of the riffles and rapids were destroyed and habitats of the migrating fish lost. Restorations of the Kostonjoki River took place in 2005-2012 as the aim of setting the condition of the water system closer to it´s natural state to enable the fish migration. Object of the restorations was to create pool-riffle variation, add natural water levels to rewater dried parts of the river and add stones and gravel to create habitats for migrating fish. Restorations were successful. Rapid and riffle areas of the Kostonjoki River grew 60% after restorations and densities of migrating fish increased. +
K
Kvarnekulla has rich industrial history since late 1600 century. Before restorations two dams of the Kvarnekulla mill were the first obsticles for migrating fish from lake Vättern upstreams. The aim of the restoration was to provide nature-like route for fish to migrate upstream without obsticles. 570 meters long Kvarnekulla bypass channel was constructed in 2008 and is so far the longest one in Sweden. +