Near breach on the eastern Trent & Mersey

摘要

In the nick of time the Canal & River Trust seem to have averted another major breach on the eastern Trent & Mersey Canal, close to where the disastrous Dutton breach occurred three years ago. On 27th November alert canal users spotted water leaking out of the embankment below the towpath and saw water in the canal flowing and eddying nearby. Bank staff inserted stop planks between bridges 211 and 213, saw water levels drop rapidly and found a large hole in the far side of the canal bank, followed by a further hole on the base of the canal. Water appeared to be disappearing into a void underneath the canal and coming out of the embankment beyond the towpath. The leak was very close to the site of the massive 2012 breach, which was only reopened in May 2013 after £2m of repairs. The immediate inference is that the previous repairs did not extend far enough. Some local waterway users had been reporting leakage here immediately after the earlier breach had been repaired.