Huddersfield Narrow drained by university

Published: Monday, 20 July 2020

Regarding your report on the usual “Narrow” problem, we were stranded above lock 1E when travelling up to Standedge Tunnel in June 2017.

Fortunately, writes Ray Fincham, the delay to our journey was relatively mild, we were re-floated after just two hours. CaRT staff did a fine job of letting water down to part-fill the near empty section after being alerted some hours earlier by a preceding boat which had become stuck further up the pound.

safter4Almost daily occurrence

We were told by a local boater that this situation had become an almost daily occurrence.  His understanding was that the length was drained when Huddersfield University extracted water from the pound to provide cooling in the air-conditioning system. 

He went on to say that the water is returned to the canal, not into the pound where it’s extracted, but to that below lock 1E.  Furthermore, he suspected that the volume of water being extracted had increased following additional building on the University estate.

CaRT benefits

No doubt, if the above is true, CaRT benefits from the income associated with the extraction licence, but at considerable dis-benefit to the navigation.  It seems such a pity that the water once extracted can’t be returned to the same pound.