Watercourse Maintenance
Case study
Watercourse Maintenance
Annual watercourse maintenance contract for the Ouse and Humber Internal Drainage Board
Scope
the base of the channel, to ensure water is free flowing and to maximise holding capacity—either in
Areas of low lying land typically in the east of
drought or flood conditions as deemed necessary.
England utilise thousands of kilometres of inland
drainage channels managed by Internal Drainage
Boards (IDBs) to facilitate draining, crop irrigation,
storage of water and safeguarding of wildlife, habitats and protected species. The management of these watercourses is a key aspect of flood prevention measures on a wider scale involving pump stations, flood gates, sluices and penstocks.
Watercourse management of these channels is
undertaken by weed cutting, de-silting, re-profiling, new cutting and in some instances stabilisation works such as toe-piling at key times of the year to ensure nesting birds and crop damage is minimal.
Contracts for management can range from a single
year up to 10 years and often encompass further necessary works as become apparent such as bank stabilisation, watercourse diversion measures, culvert replacement, pumping works, cofferdams and water structure replacement; Re-profiling occasionally as an emergency response.
Watercourse channels at varying times require to
The River Ouse around the Goole area is up to be re-profiled or re-cut and this involves the use of 350m wide with varying tidal depths from 0.0m up specific angled buckets manufactured to attach to to 5.29m and infrequent surges topping 7.4m. excavators.
Obviously, any works involving tides, flooding and
water management structures generate considerable concerns for local residents, landowners and businesses which need to be managed by appropriate liaison with the relevant bodies.
Key Aspects
Weed Cutting
Ensuring the sides of any watercourse ditch are
free of weeds and blockages is undertaken using excavators with bespoke cutting attachments, depositing on the side of the bank to allow any invertebrates to return to their native habitat. Re-profiling of a watercourse ditch to specified angles and culvert under roadway
Project Images
Challenges
Landowner Access & Liaison
Working with Water Each watercourse usually crosses numerous
landowners property and as such, it is necessary to Working in or around water poses hazards for form good working relationships to facilitate access, employees arising from the natural environment. and understand their particular use of the land. The presence of vermin and exposure to Cropping and harvesting times all play key parts in leptospirosis twinned with the possibility of the delivery of the contract and works need to be drowning, all add to the normal risks involving timed to accommodate this. accidents concerning machinery and moving parts.
Road/Footpath Closure; Buried Services &
To this end, it is necessary to adopt protocols to Overhead Power Cables
reduce and minimise these risks as a bona fide contractor and furthermore, to carry the necessary Works often encompass footpath/access accreditations for both the company and the restrictions, diversions or buried services and employee, reinforced with ongoing training and overhead cables. To protect the public, contractors assessment. need to observe all the necessary licensing and permissions from the relevant authorities, whilst Lone Working maintaining good relationships with residents. Watercourse maintenance can often involve people Communication of any anticipated inconvenience is working alone for long, extended periods of time. always undertaken at the earliest opportunity. Some people prefer this, others do not. It is important to have protocols in place to provide regular checks throughout the day, welfare support Health & Safety and to have a programme in place to address All workings require a comprehensive assessment unforeseen circumstances. of all risks and a method statement to minimise or Biosecurity overcome them. Working in the base of existing channels is a very difficult environment to keep Moving machinery from one property to another clean and dry and pose significant risks to the often requires biosecurity and environmental health and safety of our workforce. Larger projects protocols to minimise transfer of contaminants or often involve cofferdams and over-pumping to invasive species such as black grass. This is ensure safe working conditions. particularly important when working in protected sites such as SSSI.
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