The Environment Agency starts work next week on essential maintenance of the Exeter flood alleviation scheme which is expected to last at least two weeks.
The work will involve inspecting the steel pile walls, clearing some of the vegetation which has grown into the blockwork on the channel sides, and checking a number of underwater valves to make sure they are working correctly.
This will ensure that the current level of flood protection is maintained.
The Exeter flood defence scheme was constructed 30 years ago and has now been passed to the Environment Agency to manage.
During the work, the Environment Agency will be opening the bypass gate at Trews Weir and this will lower the water level upstream and through Exe Bridges. The actual water levels will vary with the natural river flow, which will continue unimpeded with minimal impact on the local ecology.
‘This might not seem the best time to be doing the work, but there are few times in the year which do not conflict with ecological, fishing, commercial and recreational constraints. To protect migrating fish, no work will be allowed after mid-February,’ said Julian Brooke Houghton for the Environment Agency.
Exeter City Council will also be taking advantage of the lower water level to remove sediment which has built up in Cricklepit Creek.
The operation of the Canal will be maintained by a temporary dam across the Kings Arms gate at the upstream end and by pumping from the Exe to the Canal once the river level drops, to substitute for the normal draw-off into the Canal Basin.
