Breach on the Rochdale?

Published: Saturday, 03 July 2021

NAMED as a 'sink hole', a great amount of water is being lost on the Rochdale Canal.

The navigation remains open at present as water is being let down to allow the level in Hebden Bridge to remain sufficient to allow passage, Keith Gudgin reports.

Sink hole

The trust states it has discovered a sink hole in the towpath between Locks 7 and 8 through which a significant amount of water is being lost into the Calder.

However though it states the 'sink hole' is in the towpath, the towpath strangely remains open, that would not normally be expected, such a hole causing a danger to the public.

As the feeders to the canal are running low the trust has installed a pump at Lock 16 to extract water from the Calder to help keep the levels in the pounds.

Leakage

Another problem however is the constant leakage though Lock 9 in the centre of Hebden Bridge causing water to be lost downstream, as the repairs undertaken earlier in the week to stop this were unsuccessful, with the lock scheduled for repair this coming winter.

Boaters are running water further up the canal to top up certain pounds and though the trust appreciate that this can be seen to help, it is complicating the situation and making the challenges worse in other areas and ask that water control is left under the management of its own team.