Tag: spillway

January 4th – After being worryingly low in late summer, the water level at Chasewater has recovered quickly. With the rain and meltwater over the Christmas period, the balancing culverts are now submerged, and I think we’re about 16 inches (400mm) off full. If water isn’t drawn down, I’d expect water to be overflowing into the spillway by mid February if we have moderate rains.

I still can’t get over how quickly Chasewater refills.

January 24th – Chasewater is still in overflow. This fascinates me – there has clearly been a deliberate decision to let the lake overtop the spillway rather than open the valve and let it flow into the canal. This is interesting, as had the water gone into the canal, the canal would have overflowed into the same culvert system, which feeds the Crane Brook. I must take a look at the crane brook when I can to see how it’s affected.

The flow from the breakwater is moving along the floor of the spillway, and into the new culvert system under the Victorian outfall. I guess that’s helping to irrigate the marsh there (as if it needed it, but you never know).

Exactly the same happened this time last year. Perhaps it’s some kind of stress test. It does mean however, that the two narrowboats moored in Anglesey Basin remain quiet on the relatively still canal…

January 19th – A beautiful day. After some time spannering the bike to cure the previous weekend’s mechanical ills, I took a sunset run out over Chasewater, down through Burntwood and Hammerwich, back up to Pipe Hill, and returned via Wall, Chesterfield and Hilton. It was a fine, cold winter ride. 

Chasewater, as I predicted yesterday, is now overflowing and irrigating the spillway. If you want to see this (and it’s worth taking a look), get there quickly, as I suspect it won’t be allowed to overflow for too long.

The gull roost seemed huge and was growing steadily as I cycled away. The view from Wall churchyard was as lovely as ever, and I was joined by a very affectionate and playful young ginger cat. I tried to take his picture, but he just couldn’t be still.

It was a gorgeous ride on a lovely evening. Let’s have some more of this, please.

December 26th – It looked like it was a fine cycling morning, but in reality, it was horrid, even by my standards. Everywhere is sodden, and a simple ride to Chasewater was awful – the towpaths were nothing but slippery, greasy mud, and the trails in the park itself were even worse. I was plastered in muck from just a short ride, and it was heavy going, to boot.

I did notice, however, that Chasewater is filling well right now, and is fuller than it has been for quite some time. It’s currently about 400mm off full, and this shows at the spillway weir at the back of the Nine-Foot pool as well as on the gauge scale on the pier. I wonder if they’ll let it overflow into the spillway again, like they did this time last year? 

It’s good to see the place looking so healthy again. But we do need a few dry days to let the landscape drain a bit…

May 4th – A gorgeous, but windy, summer evening. Still taking it gently due to the sore ribs, I took a gentle run out through Brownhills to Chasewater, then back along the canal. The blackcurrant blossom at Home Farm was gorgeous, and my favourite tree is coming into leaf, at last, a sure sign of impending summer.

The Water level at Chasewater has been lowered to around 200mm – 8 inches off maximum, and the valve closed. I find this interesting; the overflow over the poor weather period was clearly to stress-test the dam, and presumably, it’s passed. It will be intrigued to see if they allow it to overflow on a regular basis – to irrigate to spillway wetland – or if this was a rare event.

A fine evening’s ride.

March 16th – I passed through Chasewater late afternoon on another dull, wet day. I was interested to see if the level had reached the top of the weir at the back of the Nine-Foot pool, as when water crosses the new concrete breakwater and enters the spillway, the level of the main lake can rise no more. 

As it happened, the water is just short of overflowing. Id say there’s bout 10-15mm in it, that’s all. The water has risen about 20-25mm from last weekend, and unless someone opens the outlet valve, I think water will be entering the overflow system by next weekend. 

It’ll be interesting to see if the powers that be let that happen, or whether they start letting so water out to prevent it. Watching the water level rise here has been one of the few really positive things about this winter. 

Truly historic.            

December 30th – I think I was a little over optimistic in wondering if Chasewater would be totally full by new year, but I guess it’s only got 18 inches or so to go. It’ll be interesting to see if the authorities allow water to overtop the new weir into the spillway, or if they open the drain sluice before that point. 

There’s no doubting, however, that the lake is back to it’s old self, and the now the wildlife should recover well. There are already huge nightly gull roosts, and the waterfowl seem happy. This has been an incredible process to witness, and I’m glad I documented it in a small way.

For those interested in such things, the phone camera isn’t bad in the right conditions – this was taken on the phone.