15th September 2009

Following the recent few days of fine weather the river level has fallen such that work in the river bed can begin. This work needs to be completed before the fish start migrating up the river.

As part of our Environment Agency (EA) licence, we have agreed to do some work on the fish pass to improve it's effectiveness. We have removed a large amount of debris (Boulders etc.) that are restricting flow, and we will be enlarging the notches in the fish pass steps.

The picture below shows the dam that has been put in place to restrict the flow through the fish pass whilst the work is done.

The picture below shows the work being carried out at the bottom of the fish pass. The pool in the river bed is being deepened in order to make it more suitable for the fish. The wall that extends into the river (perpendicular to the river bank) will have to be removed to ensure that the outflow from the fish pass and the screw coincide.

The following pictures show the latest situation with the screw trench. The required angle and depth of screw ramp has been achieved. This ramp will be covered with reinforced concrete (next week - weather permitting!)

We have had a bit of a mini-crisis this week. The EA realised that they had overlooked a problem with river levels that would occur when the protruding wall is removed. On the basis that this problem would be detrimental to fish migration they insisted that we stop all work in the riverbed until a way forward was agreed. After many phonecalls, emails, site meetings it has been agreed that a new wall will be built (at the EA's expense) just downstream of the screw outflow. The wall will be built over this weekend (19th/20th Sept).

10th September 2009

At last - a few days of fine weather!

There has been excellent progress with building the Power House this week. The inside walls are complete. The roof won't be added until the screw and control gear are installed.

We are taking advantage of the lower river level to do some work in the river. The river bed is being excavated at the outflow to provide the best possible topography for assisting the flow of water away from the screw.

The low wall in the river (bottom centre) which sits at the bottom of the fish-pass will eventually be removed in order to ensure that the outflows from the fish-pass and the screw are merged - apparently this will make it easier for the fish to find the fish-pass!

It is a condition of our Abstraction Licence that we do some work on the fish-pass. We will be clearing away some boulders that have accumulated in the fish-pass over many years and are compromising it's effectiveness, and we will be enlarging the 'notches' in the fish-pass to improve the flow through the pass. All this work is being done in close consultation with the Environment Agency. A temporary dam has been erected at the head of the fish-pass to stop the water flow such that the work can be performed.

The picture below shows the front of the Power House. The central shaft of the screw will enter the Power House through the 'window' in the front wall.

3rd September 2009

Work has started on the construction of the Power House - the first few courses of blocks can be seen in the picture below. These blocks will form the inner walls - the outer walls will be natural stone to blend in with the nearby mill and stone walls.

In between the rain showers work has continued in 'pecking out' the rock to form the channel for the screw. It's proving to be a slow job!

The volume of water cascading over the weir is amazing. We are hoping that the flow will slow down shortly as it will be necessary to excavate some of the river bed.

The contractors have had a bit of a move around. The site office and generator have been repositioned close to the Power House