Sometimes even with water it can feel that way when the bottom is allowed to get too close to the top. Something the breach has done is open peoples eyes to what lies under the water in a canal, for boaters its something we are hyper aware of, every shallow spot, or lump on the bottom is felt through either the boat rubbing over it or if you are unlucky when it hits the propeller. Phil Griffin again supplied these photos of a computer and bike pulled from the dewatered section.
We’ve all been there, cruising along enjoying the scenery and suddenly theres an almighty bang and maybe the tiller will wrench across as a plank or tree trunk gets smacked by the prop and clatters against the hull/rudder. Back in the 70/80’s you knew where stuff was in the cut, or we did, because the boat would roll over it. One that sticks in my mind is a full 50 gallon oil drum that sat in the track outside an oil company in Wolverhampton. Every time we went past the boat would ride up out of the water 5-6 inches, it became a local legend, every boater would talk about it but the point was it was the odd area that was the problem. Fast forward to today and its everywhere, the big glaring things like the oil drum might not be there but there are far more grumbling points nowadays, poor maintenance and a canal being an easy spot to dump some rubbish both play a part. This is not a grumble at the peeps on the coal face, they do a top job when called into action, but the system needs more work than its been getting for a long time.
The breach at Bloxwich has allowed a snapshot of how urban canals like the Wyrley and Essington are seen as an easy place to dispose of waste, I could put endless pictures of boaters with bags of rubbish, old clothes even mattresses being pulled off their propellers but these images from friends of the blog show what lies underneath the surface and how they can cause damage to boats and the canal themselves.
Don’t forget this is just a snapshot of a small length of a canal that stretches for 40 plus miles just on this one level, now imagine the rubbish you see here multiplied thousands of times and you have an idea of what is under the water when you’re walking along the canal. If its going to survive it needs some love and affection shown to it by everyone, take your rubbish home with you, it doesn’t magically disappear when it’s thrown in, it just becomes a time bomb waiting for its victim.
On the subject of the breach it seems Staffs have turned off the valves at Chasewater, suggestions have been made that its to keep the level in the lake up for their iron man competition this weekend. Whether that’s true or not the water has stopped rising and the boats in the Grove basin are still on the bottom, local legend and blogger Brownhills Bob has worked out that to refill the isolated section back to pre breach levels will reduce Chasewaters depth by roughly 25mm. The maths is fascinating (at least to a maths geek like me) and can be seen here for those with FB access, for those without, well, you’ll have to take my word for it, its a work of art.
As I previously mentioned CRT have closed Rushall locks or at least they now ask that you book passage with them to minimise water loss down and off the isolated part of the Wolverhampton level, a sensible move.
CRT stoppage notice here for anyone who has a liking for that sort of thing.
The Canalorak 