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Category: Canal and River Trust
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CRT have announced the publication of the two reports on the spliway failure at Toddbrook in 2019.

They have said

The Canal & River Trust welcomes the Government-commissioned Independent Reservoir Review report from Professor Balmforth which examines the cause of the damage to Toddbrook Reservoir last summer and makes recommendations for the improvement of reservoir safety across England and Wales. 

Both the Balmforth report and a separate independent report by expert reservoir engineer Dr Andrew Hughes, commissioned earlier by the Trust and also published today, identify that serious hidden design flaws, inherent in the concrete auxiliary spillway from the time of its installation in 1970, caused its partial collapse on 1 August 2019 following several days of heavy rainfall.

Since the incident last August, the Trust has implemented measures to enhance reservoir inspection and maintenance and will now be fully reviewing both reports and acting on their findings to ensure the ongoing safe stewardship of the reservoirs in its care.

You can read the details here.

There are links to the two reports.

The NABO team will review the reports and provide some comentary in the next NABO News in April.

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Category: Other Live Issues
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CRT has provided their response to the virus, which for many of us is giving normal life a bit of a rest.

The headline is that the canals remain open for use. Good news.

See their web page here.

For NABO, all representative meetings are being cancelled, but plans are being put in place for video and telephone conferences. The work does not stop.

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Category: EA and others
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On Tuesday 3rd March 2020 I represented NABO at the above Forum which brings together representatives of a wide cross section of users of the Thames, including the 8 River User Groups (the RUGs) and many other representative groups, with relevant EA personnel.  Chaired by the Thames Director, Julia Simpson, the very long meeting was valuable and above all illustrated that the new-look EA is making every effort to listen to its key river users in moving its navigational responsibilities forward over the next 5 years.

Read more: Report on meeting of Thames Navigation Users Forum (TNUF) March 2020

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Category: Other Live Issues
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In January, CRT started work to enhance the resilience of the dam wall and spillway. This will be followed later in the year by improvements to the Todd Brook inlet channel at the head of the reservoir to provide more control over how much water flows into the reservoir, or around it via a bypass channel into the River Goyt. A new footbridge will be built across the brook to create a safe route for people to walk from one side of the valley to the other. To ensure that the dam is secure in any extreme weather events, a temporary wall will be built along the spillway crest, raising it by one metre, and concrete barriers will be installed on the spillway slope to channel any overflowing water into the central undamaged section. These will remain in place until permanent reconstruction of the dam is undertaken. The Trust has commissioned an independent inquiry into what caused the damage to the dam’s auxiliary spillway. It is also assisting with an independent review commissioned by the Government. Both reports are due to be published early in 2020 and will guide the long-term repair of the dam, which is likely to take several years and cost around £10 million. (see www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/restoring-toddbrook-reservoir).