River Severn Restrictions
02 July 2010
South Wales & Severn Waterways
RESTRICTION – 2 July 2010
Water resources feeding the canal have dropped significantly this month. Flows from all the feeders along the canal are low and the River Severn is in Drought Regulation, being supported by releases from reservoirs in Wales. To date pumping at Gloucester has enabled us to maintain the canal at Operational levels however the current available water resource cannot sustain the canal without reducing lockages at Gloucester and Sharpness.
Therefore it will be necessary to implement the following measures.
Demand Management Measures: Monday 5th July.
Sharpness Port:
The lock will be closed to Leisure craft on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Leisure craft will be allowed to lock on the daytime tides on Wednesday, Friday and Sundays only.
Please note: Subject to safety considerations and lock availability it may be possible for Leisure craft to sail with booked commercial vessels on all tides throughout the week. Customers should check the availability of these additional lockage’s with Sharpness Pier Head. Customers should note that commercial sailings are not regular and are subject to late change and update. The availability of these additional lockages may be limited.
Gloucester Lock:
The lock will be restricted to Leisure craft. Lockages will be taken at 8am, 10am, 12 noon, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm daily, Monday to Sunday.
The Lock Keeper will look to limit the impact on customers. Where safety considerations require such as tides additional lockages may be taken. We would ask customers for patience if their journey is delayed.
Commercial craft are requested wherever possible to limit the use of Gloucester Lock to the times given above.
Upper Lode Lock:
Boats travelling to Gloucester will be advised not to continue with their journey to Gloucester if they leave Upper Lode after 4pm.
We genuinely understand the concerns customers may have with the implementation of these measures and at present it is not expected that they will need to be escalated. However should it be necessary to continue to escalate water management measures over the course of the summer British Waterways will work to ensure the best balance of measures is implemented.
These measures will be reviewed on a weekly basis and will be removed as soon as practical. An update on the water resource situation will be provided on a weekly basis.
Please contact Gloucester Lock on 01452 310832 or Sharpness Pier Head on 01453 511968 for up to date information.
Further details are available on our website www.waterscape.com
OUT OF HOURS CALL 0800 47 999 47 FOR EMERGENCY ONLY
British Waterways regrets any inconvenience caused and in an attempt to minimise this, notices will be posted locally. In order to improve the effectiveness of this information service, please contact:
British Waterways the Dock Office Commercial Road Gloucester GL1 2EB; T 01452 318000 F 01452 318076 E: enquiries.southwest@britishwaterways.co.uk with any amendments to the circulation of this notice
