The canal is clearly back on the up: This photo was taken yesterday evening at Clayhanger, and despite a further drop over the weekend, is now at the same level as last Thursday.
Following the sudden and unexpected drop in water level of the canal through Brownhills, and the Wyrley and Essignton Canal as a whole, top Canal and River Trust operatives have isolated the leak in the canal bed at Stoney Lane, Little Bloxwich with dams, and are now working to fix the hole.
This means that with Chasewater valves open, the canal should now be slowly refilling. It dipped to about 200mm off full level on Saturday 2nd June 2018, but last night was back to 125mm down measured at Clayhanger overflow, the same level it was at the previous Thursday 31st May 2018.
An emergency stoppage notices posted on Saturday 2nd June 2018 and emergency dams have been erected. Tellingly, the isolated stretch drained itself without pumps…
Presumably the work to repair the under-canal culvert will start soon. In the meantime, the towpath is still currently open to passers by, cyclists and those interested, but probably offers limited angling opportunities for the time being.
Phil Griffin took a great set of the drained cut yesterday (Monday 4th June 2018):
On the matter of my contempt for the the Canal and River Trust, the following tweet issued yesterday by their stellar press office is breathtaking:
They lost a huge quantity of water and are still blaming Chasewater’s owner, Staffordshire County Council, even though it appears they haven’t actually closed the vales since early April.
If you have a view on this, or pictiures, please do get in touch. Comment or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Thanks.