What about dredging?

10:39am Saturday 29th September 2012 in Letters By Reader's letter

There may be a simple and obvious answer to this question, but why in all the time I have lived in York have I never seen a dredger on either the Foss or the Ouse?

Given the wide catchment area of the Ouse, there must be a huge amount of silt and sand brought down from the Dales and this must, inevitably, restrict the river’s capacity to deal with these high rainfall levels.

And who is ultimately responsible for ensuring the maintenance of the river? The Environment Agency? British Waterways?

Perhaps the Press can shed some light on this matter.

Brian Stokoe, Cherry Wood Crescent, Fulford , York.

Comments(12)

Despairing Yorkie says...
1:31pm Sat 29 Sep 12

This canard comes up every time there's a flood. Dredging is used either to "quarry" sand or gravel from a riverbed, or to deepen navigable channels. Employing it as a solution to flooding would be like bailing out the Titanic with a teaspoon. Just stop and think for a moment about the relative volumes of water passing through York versus the amount of space that would be be created in the Ouse or Foss by dredging...

Now over to our correspondents ColdAsChristmas for his explanation of why flooding is caused by left-wing windmills, and Scarlet Pimpernel o how Matthew Laverack and his tax-cheating relatives (see The Press website - http://www.yorkpress
.co.uk/news/4369828.
Cheating_ex_landlord
_Geoffrey_Laverack_b
ack_in_court_for_new
_benefit_fraud/) are humanitarians and city benefactors on a level only equalled by the Rowntrees.

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keepitshut says...
2:27pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Walkers used to dredge near Ouse Bridge many years ago, they stopped as they could purchase sand cheaper from abroad!

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roadwars says...
4:09pm Sat 29 Sep 12

I remember once when the dredged a stretch of the Foss around Haxby - Earswick (about 20 years ago) It devastated the river, I found over 20 dead Eels that had died trying to escape from the mud that was piled up along the bank. It pretty much destroys the riverbed and as is said above, I'm not sure how much difference it would make to the flow of the river.
Surely a better answer would be to stop continually narrowing the flow of the river by building houses and then flood barriers to protect them. The narrower you make it the higher it will go...

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ColdAsChristmas says...
9:43pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Thanks for the plug Despairing. roadwars was quite correct in pointing out that more buildings are not helping the situation. Like anything, water has to go somewhere and if it has a smaller ground area to sink into then water levels rise. Then certain folks will say this is global warming, forgetting that they need a coat on when they go out and heating (ever more expensive thanks to green taxes) on when they come in.
Much can be done to increase the capacity of the Ouse and that would create local jobs like dueling some of the A64 that would to ease congestion.
But all we get is the threat of wind turbines and solar panels, plus an increase in Council tax and a pay rise for Councillors! Maybe?

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Jezreel says...
10:43pm Sat 29 Sep 12

ColdAsChristmas wrote:
Thanks for the plug Despairing. roadwars was quite correct in pointing out that more buildings are not helping the situation. Like anything, water has to go somewhere and if it has a smaller ground area to sink into then water levels rise. Then certain folks will say this is global warming, forgetting that they need a coat on when they go out and heating (ever more expensive thanks to green taxes) on when they come in.
Much can be done to increase the capacity of the Ouse and that would create local jobs like dueling some of the A64 that would to ease congestion.
But all we get is the threat of wind turbines and solar panels, plus an increase in Council tax and a pay rise for Councillors! Maybe?
Beam me up Scottie

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hugohackenbush says...
9:15am Sun 30 Sep 12

Despairing Yorkie wrote:
This canard comes up every time there's a flood. Dredging is used either to "quarry" sand or gravel from a riverbed, or to deepen navigable channels. Employing it as a solution to flooding would be like bailing out the Titanic with a teaspoon. Just stop and think for a moment about the relative volumes of water passing through York versus the amount of space that would be be created in the Ouse or Foss by dredging...

Now over to our correspondents ColdAsChristmas for his explanation of why flooding is caused by left-wing windmills, and Scarlet Pimpernel o how Matthew Laverack and his tax-cheating relatives (see The Press website - http://www.yorkpress

.co.uk/news/4369828.

Cheating_ex_landlord

_Geoffrey_Laverack_b

ack_in_court_for_new

_benefit_fraud/) are humanitarians and city benefactors on a level only equalled by the Rowntrees.
You certainly dont need lessons in dredging dirt do you.

I wonder what you have hidden in the closet.

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old_geezer says...
11:24am Sun 30 Sep 12

Dredging won't do it, Despairing's teaspoon comment is quite accurate. The Ouse is self-clearing for the most part. Occasionally not, and BW did send a dredger up earlier this year near Newton where there were specific problems.

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Even AndyD says...
12:58pm Sun 30 Sep 12

Anyone know the latest on the fish situation in our two rivers? Seem to recall it was dire (pollution) in the earl 1980s and has improved dramatically since. But I might have dreamed that - so anyone know?

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Magicman! says...
3:50am Mon 1 Oct 12

As i understand it, the ouse is made non-tidal north of naburn by a barrage-like affair... this being the case, is there not an emergency gate valve that can be opened to drain more water out of the non-tidal ouse into the tidal section? Granted it wouldn't have done much good this time round though.

Another option might be to build a flood reservoir that is half underground - so as the river rises, water flows into the empty concrete pit and is stored until river levels fall, at which point it is pumped out controllably in line with river levels. Obviously it would have to hold a hundred thousand gallons or more considering the amount of water the Ouse carries..... the other solution is a flood drain, an empty pipeline from somewhere like Rawcliffe Ings to North Ferriby, whereby the rising river water flows straight into the pipeline (which is kept empty from debris and has no other openings) and straight to the Humber.


As for fish levels, there are a good number of Kingfishers along the river banks in Clifton, which would be a sign of healthy fish stock.

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old_geezer says...
8:15am Mon 1 Oct 12

Magicman, the tidal Ouse was full as well, the water level way above the weir. Visit Naburn Lock Island (in better weather!) and see the flood level markers.

And 100,000 gallons would be irrelevant. There are storage schemes, notably above Clifton Bridge and near Linton, where fields on the other side of the embankments can be intentionally flooded, but they are of very limited help when the entire area floods.

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Even AndyD says...
8:44am Mon 1 Oct 12

Cheers, Magicman- as a keen bird photographer - will get over to Clifton river bank more often, kingfishers are a rare treat!

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Firedrake says...
9:38am Mon 1 Oct 12

Even AndyD: I've seen at least two - possibly three - salmon/seatrout jumping near Linton over the last couple of years. Plenty of fish in the Foss - but you need a hot, still, day when the water's clear in order to see them.

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