July 19th – Following the canal breach a few weeks ago, that saw the local canals lose nearly a foot in level following a breach into a culvert beneath the waterway at Little Bloxwich, the repair has been effected and levels are back up to a healthy level now.
At Clayhanger, the low end of the overflow is now running well and it’s a fine sight and sound once more.
June 12th – Following isolation of the leak at Little Bloxwich, the canal level has continued to rise and is now about 20-25mm off maximum (ie. the weir bar at Clayhanger overflow), so more or less back to normal.
It took a while, with problems at Chasewater and with balancing pumps having to be installed at the leak site, but thankfully, apart from the fact that there’s a large repair required in Little Bloxwhich which will prevent passage from Brownhills to Wolverhampton and vice versa by boat for a bit, it’s good to see the waterway back to normal health.
This could have been so much worse.
June 2nd – Heading out on a dull but warm afternoon, the eventual aim was Draycott in the Clay steam fair at Klondyke Mill, but fate had other ideas. On the way, I called in at Chasewater to see if it was filling the canal. It was, the valves were open.
There has been a leak in the canal near Little Bloxwich that has lost a huge amount of water into a culvert beneath the canal, and the Canal and River Trust had said initially the drop in level was due to Chasewater’s supply being cut off by Staffordshire County Council, which was clearly arrant nonsense.
The Trust finally released an emergency stoppage notice and began damming off the leak that very afternoon.
Chasewater is still very full, and when called upon will need to fill the five inches or more lost from the canal. An interesting situation to watch.
May 31st – My attention had been drawn to comments online that the canal water level had dropped significantly in the last couple of days, so I investigated – measuring from the weir bar to the current level was 123mm. Nearly five inches of water lost since Sunday when the canal was in heavy overflow.
Considering the length of this canal, this is a huge amount of water gone.
Subsequent enquiries with the Canal and River Trust suggest that they were unaware the valves had been turned off at Chasewater by Staffordshire County Council (see here) but I’m unconvinced the water would drop so fast considering the conditions.
I’m wondering if a downstream lock sluice was accidentally left open, perhaps.
It is said the situation is being rectified by pumping water in from Bradley, so it’ll be one to keep an eye on I think. A mystery.
April 28th – A grey, cold afternoon at Chasewater with little to commend it: On a quick spin out shivering and cold, they light was hauntingly grey over the lake. I notice the water level is falling gradually now with it now being about 75mm below the outfall spillway weir.
The gorse is beautiful, the hedgerows verges and thickets were alive with flowers, birds and wildlife, but there was little colour because of the awful weather.
Come on spring, we won’t mind if you wake the sun up!
February 25th – I raced back to Chasewater to catch the sunset as I had planned to do they day before, and although inevitably the sunset was not as dramatic, it was very beautiful and calm, but my hands were frozen. It really was very cold indeed.
I noted while there that Chasewater is now about 150mm from full, as it usually is at this time of year. It will be interesting to see what happens this year – if the reservoir is allowed to continually overtop or if the dispute with the Canal and River Trust is resolved and the water is released into the canal.
January 1st – Something odd has happened and I haven’t really register why.
As I passed the canal overflow at CLayhanger Bridge in the darkness, I noticed it was very noisy indeed, and that the canal was really full and overtopping considerably.
I find this puzzling – we’ve had a fair bit of rain, but not that much, surely? Or have I missed it all?
When the overflow is running at full blast it’s a lovely noise and a fascinating thing, almost hypnotic to watch.
I just can’t see where all the water’s come from…
March 18th – I popped up to a wind-blasted Chasewater, which is still a mud-bath. I noted that the wakeboard lines are reopening for the season, and the canal valve is still open – but by no means fully; the spillway is now dry and the balancing culvert valve has been closed.
The canal filling could well be to do with works ongoing around the Midlands network right now; on recent rides I noticed a lot of drained locks and other works ready for the new season.
Either way, the level seems to have been roughly stable now for a month or so. I presume the earlier dam works have now finished.
It’ll be interesting to see how low the water gets over the coming summer.
February 26th – The water level at Chasewater is lower than I’ve seen it for a while. Interestingly, rather than open the valves fully, there’s a good flow into the canal, and the balancing culvert between the Nine-Foot pool and Spillway has been opened, allowing a steady stream of water to flow into the Crane Brook via the drain system under the canal.
I understand why the level is being dropped – with the dam being permeable, if installing drains you want the installation to be as dry as possible – but I’m puzzled by the method. It has, however, been convention since the original dam works to allow the reservoir to overflow every spring, so perhaps this is to irrigate the spillway marsh as it would be normally.
Interesting too to see the white scale around the lowered waterline. It that salt, or something else?
August 20th – A very tired day in which I felt groggy, tired and insubstantial, like I was a ghost or something. I didn’t realise at the time, but I think I was experiencing low sugar levels.
I set out late to the supermarket in Burntwood on a punishingly windy day, and got caught in a rain squall on the way back that made my forehead so cold it hurt. But there was a rainbow, too, which didn’t photograph well, but made me feel better.
Passing through Chasewater, I note the valves are still open and the water level is steadily dropping, now about 12 inches from maximum.
I love the tide marks on the spillway weir.
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