The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has created the Catchment Restoration Fund with the aim of reducing pollution that comes from the way land is used and improving the landscape through which water flows. 

The Defra fund of  £28m fund, providing up to £10m each year, has been allocated for projects to be delivered in 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15. 

The fund will support work that aims to:

restore more natural features in and around waters;

reduce the impact of man-made structures on wildlife in waters; or

reduce the impact of small, spread-out (diffuse) sources of pollution that arise from rural and urban land use.

Funding is available to charitable organisations to carry out projects in England that will restore rivers, lakes, wetlands, estuaries, coastal habitats and their surrounding landscapes to more natural conditions, to tackle pollution, restore wildlife habitats and enable fish to migrate.

Land & Water’s Managing Director, James Maclean said after the announcement  “This is great news for communities and the environment.  As a responsible contractor working on England’s waterways we see far too often the results of neglect and hope that charities will take up this opportunity to return things back to nature.”

Closing date for bids is 29th February.  Funding will be awarded by April 30th following assessment by a national panel led by the Environment Agency and representatives from Defra and Natural England.

Follow the link for information on how to apply:  environment-agency.gov.uk

For more information call Land & Water on 0844 875 1260 or email us at enquiries@land-water.co.uk

The transitional period since the Marine Management Organisation implemented the marine licensing system on 6 April 2011 is almost at an end, and from 6th April 2012 ALL dredging activity will require a marine license.

The MMO site provides full details on the process and licensing. The highlights are below:

“Dredging (including aggregate dredging)

Dredging was not a licensable activity before the start of the marine licensing system on 6 April 2011. Accordingly, there is a transitional period of one year from the start date during which a dredging operation will not require a marine licence, provided the dredging operation:

would not have fallen within section 34 of the Coast Protection Act 1949

would not have required a licence under Part 2 of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1984

is not excluded from this exemption by an order made by the Secretary of State.

At the end of the transitional period, a marine licence will be required for any dredging. The carrying out of any form of dredging, whether or not involving the removal of material, requires a marine licence.

Dredging is a broad term and includes the use of any device to move any material from one part of the sea or sea bed to another part. This includes dredging for any purpose, for example, creating new channels or berths, maintaining existing channels or aggregate dredging for commercial supply. This also includes all types of dredging, for example, suction dredging, water injection dredging or sea bed levelling.”

The Land & Water Group with its in-depth understanding and experience of dredging activities is able to offer its clients help and advice to navigate the regulations and obtain the right license quickly and efficiently. 

If you are planning navigational, maintenance or any other form of dredging please contact Land & Water for more information on how Land & Water can assist with licensing, planning and dredging operations: Please contact  Jayne Hornsby on 0844 875 1260.

New head and tail gates were succesfully fitted to the lock chamber on Tuesday 13th December.

The Hargreaves team who built the gates, supported by the Land & Water site team and of course the Ellis Crane Hire crew, had all four gates in place by mid afternoon. Then the really hard work began… installing the gate cills, fitting the cheek timbers and connecting the paddle gear. This work continues.

Silt re-sited

The dredged silt, previously contained in a drainage lagoon within the site compound, has been transported to the prepared tipping area below the lock. 

This material will continue to dry before being landscaped to form an amenity area.

Using the dredgings to enhance the bridge site gives the project the best possible outcome in terms of environmental benefit and off-setting the scheme’s carbon footprint.

Volunteer Engineers

Cotswold Canals Trust Volunteers arrived on site on Friday and commenced installation of the ground paddle jack posts and gearing. In spite of the the extremes of weather experienced in recent days the site teams, professional and volunteers alike, have carried on with the job in hand.

Teetering on the Edge

Loose coping stones on the towpath edge above the lock were in danger of falling into the canal. The stones have been removed and reseated onto on a mortar bed. This work continues.

Read more at the Cotsworld Canal Trust 

A particularly awkward clean-up of 22,300m3 of contaminated sediments in Falmouth Marina has begun.

Specialist contractor Land & Water Services Ltd has provided a bespoke clean-up strategy and dredging team to the Premier Falmouth Marina. The £1.66 million project involves installing tubular mooring piles and pontoons to remove the contaminated sediment to improve the mooring and operational facilities at the site.

The close proximity of a number of highly protected sites and the inbuilt risks of recovering a highly mobile contaminant in the tidal environment, make the works particularly high profile for the regulators. Land and Water has developed their own site specific waste strategy plan, with environmental protection being offered by combining a number of technologies, developed and operated by the company.

The risk of suspended sediment release was mitigated using a combination of 4 technologies:

 A ‘visor bucket’ attached to the excavator to collect the sediments from the seabed and then trap them to prevent and fluidisation on raising the bucket.

A3D dig control system allowing the operator to finely position the bucket and a telemetry system to track and monitor the excavator.

A ‘moon-pool’ system created around the digging envelope in front of the dredge pontoon. This allows sediment to be collected successfully despite the tidal conditions.

Water monitoring buoys which measure the suspended solids in the water column and alert the operators to any levels that exceed the threshold.

Land & Water will also manage the transfer and recycling of the dredged arising with 4Recycling Ltd. The low level contaminated dredgings will be used as a restoration soil over a number of nearby sites formerly used for china clay extraction.

Read more in the Silt Curtain Case Study

To Dredge the Lake and Dispose of 7,000m³ of silt off Site in a Busy and Historical Park

Following the site set up, including constructing a stone access track from the adjacent narrow lane, a fish rescue was carried out prior to the dredging works. Small roach and bream were netted along with a few small carp and these were transported to local waters. The lake was dewatered over a period of four days, discharging into the existing spillway culvert via a silt buster tank. Two long reach excavators carried out the dredging works, working on timber bog mats on the lake bed casting silts to each other and then placing the silts through a mechanical screener on the bank side, the screened material was then discharged into sealed tipper lorries. The discharge site was a field at a farm just south of Dorking where two bunded lagoons were built to receive the wet silt and a long reach excavator was used to move and manage the silts accordingly. Three long reach excavators were used towards the end of the dredging working across the lake to clear the silts, exposing the clay bed.

During the month of March and early April over 7000m3 silt (580 lorry loads) was taken off site to the disposal site. A further 2000m3 silt was left on site to be used as fill for the islands. The two new islands were constructed using stone filled gabion baskets to form the circumference. Rows of hazel faggots tied to the baskets gave the height, this was set at 100mm below the finished lake level. The remaining silt was used as fill.

Planter bays were made at various locations around the lake using timber posts and hazel faggots for the shallow bays and stone filled gabion baskets and hazel faggots for the deeper bays. In the north east section of the lake a retaining wall was constructed for the picnicking and bird feeding areas, consisting of steel columns and timber planking. The lake was left to fill naturally and via the surface water drainage system, a return visit in August was made to install pre planted coir rolls to the south and north banks, planting of the islands and perimeter planting bays was also carried out. 

Learn more about Land & Water Dredging capabilities

Dredging project for the Environment Agency comprising 6 zones split into 2 case studies: See part I.

Site 4 – Roundabout Sewer—Japanese knotweed was present on this section which was covered by some 200m of Terram to prevent cross contamination.  Asbestos was also found requiring specialist sub-contractors to be employed.  Access was from a very narrow bank which had edge protection applied to prevent slippage and provide a safety barrier.  A 6t mini excavator was used, loading into a 6t dumper running along the 800m stretch.

Site 5 – Portlane Brook—Much of Portlane Brook was inaccessible from the banks so a bobcat was mobilised into the channel deploying a Terram base to run on as it moved along removing silt and vegetation from the brook to allow free flow of water.  Dewatering the area whilst it worked was achieved by over pumping.  A mini dump truck ran along the channel taking excavated material to the loading point.  One tree had to be removed and steel plates were laid on the verge to allow wagon access and mobilisation.  Strict traffic management was required to ensure safe operations during the works.

Site 6 – Broxbourne Mill—The mill pool was severely clogged with silt so using Land & Waters bespoke  ‘Smalley’ dredger the silt was removed from the channel and loaded into hoppers within the channel.   In some areas bank revetments were undertaken by driving 1.5m treated timber posts to protect reeds. 

Learn more about Land & Water’s Dredging capabilities

Dredging project for the Environmental Agency comprising 6 zones split into 2 case studies: See part II.

Site 1 – River Wraysbury—Bank side dredging was carried out using a 22t long reach excavator deploying silt curtains to prevent migration of disturbed silts. Materials were loaded directly into sealed wagons for disposal at a local landfill. The location was extremely awkward being within busy Heathrow area requiring traffic management and close transport liaison.

Site 2 – River Rodding—A shallow river which runs into the River Thames. Access was difficult through an urban area making Land and Water’s amphibious 7t excavator ideal to enter the river and travel along within its banks and in differing water depth clearing pockets of built up silts and gravels regarding and shaping the bed. (Pic bottom left)

Site 3 – River Ver—Bank vegetation and tree overhang clearance, 750m of river bank was cleared by hand and use of shredding equipment to render material disposable. With men in the water, health and safety was an up-most priority here.

Wells Harbour was chosen as the base for the survey, crew and work boats supporting the construction and future operation of the new Sheringham Shoal offshore windfarm.

Work originally began on constructing the outer harbour late in 2009 to accommodate this new activity in the port. The harbour entrance channel was also deepened to extend the times that small-draft workboats for windfarm workers and crews could enter and leave the harbour, in particular for morning and early evening entrance on neap tides.

Unfortunately by late 2010 it was apparent that the new outer harbour had experienced substantial erosion and re-siltation so Land & Water Services were engaged by Wells Harbour Commissioners to remove this material and further increase the depth of the harbour, depositing the arising material to strengthen the surrounding berms.

Land & Water used an 8 piece Ravestein pontoon with a 15m long reach excavator to carry out the works which was supplemented by 2 further 22m land based long reach excavators and a D6 Dozer spreading the arising material. A total quantity of 25,000m3 of material was removed during this contract.

Learn more about Land & Water’s Dredging capabilities

In two areas of Rhu Marina berths were no longer usable because of severe build up of silt deposits over many years. Land & Water Services were employed by Quay Marinas, having worked successfully with them before, to remove the silts and restore access to a new pontoon system being installed.

The Land & Water ‘Wight Silt’ a highly manoeuvrable and versatile vessel was deployed to carry out the dredging operation.

Commencing on the last day of January 2011, working seven hours per day on the falling tide over a period of six days, 4,000 m3 of silts were removed. A minimum water depth of 1.5 meters at all states of the tide was achieved even in areas previously inaccessible and completely dried out.

Learn more about Land & Water’s dredging skills.

Land & Water Services were approached by the Royal North Yacht Club to remove a build up of sands and silts from in and around the mooring bays of Blyth Marina.

There were particular problems under the two cranes used to lift vessels into and out of the water. Operating their bespoke SiltTek water erosion system. Land & Water removed over 4,000m3 of soft silts from the areas restoring easy access to berths.

The system work by blasting water via the pipe system at approx. 7 Bar pressure directly into the silts forcing them up and into suspension. By working only on the falling tide (one hour before to one hour after) these suspended solids are taken away naturally on the tide and widely dispersed. The method proved highly effective around the post and anchor chain moorings where conventional backhoe dredging cannot be deployed.

Project Information

Download Land & Water Case Study - Blyth Marina Water Erosion Dredging