Water shortage

TWO days without rain and there is a water shortage on the Rochdale Canal, with the summit pound locked up at 4pm.

The pound was first closed to navigation after 4pm yesterday, Saturday, and is again today, with it being opened 'early tomorrow morning', Keith Gudgin tells us.

Fully closed

The advice to boaters from Canal & River Trust is to make sure that paddles are fully closed when they leave locks as it only needs a small amount to allow a lot of water to be lost from the system, and to share locks where possible.

However, leaking lock gates are the major problem on the Rochdale.