Bradshaw Brook Sewer Works 23 Oct 13

Lots of rain over the last few days so I decide to see if the work on the bottom sewer grid and biscuit had stopped effluent getting into the brook.

 By the presence of various sanitary items around the grid and on the stones it is obvious that the grid had lifted due to the pressure of the sewage and rain water.

 These three pictures show were the sewage ran down the bank into the brook.

I am not surprised that it happened, as I said in my last blog, the repair job was not up to scratch. I spoke to the workmen later and told them what was happening, they said they would take a look. Whether further work will result we will have to wait and see.

  

Bradshaw Brook Sewer Works 20 Oct 13

This is an up date on my blog "Bradshaw Brook Sewer Pipes of 3 Oct 13".

Work on the two other sewer problems on the brook pictured in the above blog has commenced, one problem and has been completed the other, pictured below, has been started.

The area were the brook had cut a channel round the sewer in inspection grid has been closed off. 

The resealing of the biscuit (the concrete slab under the house bricks) and the grid is still to be done and, of course, the sorting the pile of stones, not sure what they will do with them,.

The fix on the other leaky sewer can be seen below.

Although the grid sides and the biscuit have been completely covered, when a I asked the workmen what was under the gravel and rocks I was disappointed to be told that it had not been sealed with concrete prior to the gravel and rocks being put on. As this inspection grid has regularly leaked sewage into the brook I had hoped that it would be sealed properly. Only time will tell if this fix will work, I am not very hopeful.

  

Wayoh & Entwistle Reservoirs 8 Oct 13

Following on from my last blog about Jumbles Reservoir and the sources of Bradshaw Brook today I went to take photos of Wayoh and Entwistle..

Wayoh Dam Wall & United Utilites processing plant.

The original dam was built finished in 1876,  the height of this wall was increased in 1962 to provide more water for Bolton.

When it fills up this will take the extra water down into what will become Bradshaw Brook

The water is pretty low at the moment but it will fill up over the winter if we get our normal rain fall.

The bridge was built in 1847/8 before the reservoir was constructed. It carries the Bolton to Blackburn railway over Bradshaw Brook, at the top end of the Wayoh, and is still in daily use.

A view of Wayoh looking back to the dam wall. Wayoh is a course fishery day tickets can be bought at the Black Bull which is quite close to the dam.

 The Entwistle is another large reservoir much the same as the Wayoh, though one major difference is that it has trout, both brown and stocked rainbows, the fishing is controlled by the "Entwistle Fly Fishers"

View from the dam wall.

Again the level is quite low after the dry summer.

No expense spared in the old days, everything had to be pretty. As far as I know this controls the flow or did when it was built in 1832.

Bradshaw Brook Sewer Pipe, and Jumbles Reservoir 5 Oct 13

At last we can see the completed concrete cover over the pipe.

The lower middle section, which I am told is to allow trout move up stream to spawn, can now be clearly seen. Whether this will work only time will tell, as I have previously said I do not think it is low enough for this to happen.

 There is still some fencing to be erected at each end of the weir and lots of tidying up to be done.

Up stream the brook is dammed by three reservoirs, the one immediately above the stretch that we fish is  Jumbles Reservoir. United Utilities are required to release a minimum amount of water into the brook, so the rise and fall of the level is not as great as it would be on a normal brook.

So this is were nearly all the water in the brook comes from.

  Jumbles, as you can see, is quite low at the moment due to a dry summer. When or if it fills up this winter we could get an increased flow into the brook. Jumbles was built in 1971 to guarantee the supply of water to  Bolton.  

The other two, Wayoh, built in 1876, and Entwistle, 1832, were compensation reservoirs. They were built to ensure a continuous flow of water to the brook throughout the year. Not for drinking water but to ensure that the mills and factories down stream would have a supply of water during the summer. They now supply 50% of  Bolton's drinking water.

Bradshaw Brook Sewer Pipes 3 Oct 13

The trout fishing season has ended, so this is just an update on the sewer pipe work. I expected the work to have been completed, but not so.

  The concrete cover to the pipe is completed, just some further cuts to the pilings below the centre section which was being done as I left. Once that is finished there is some fencing to be erected and a lot of tidying up to be done. Then the next two jobs further down stream.

Although this looks as though it must be leaking sewage, it doesn't. Its a pity it can't be made into a fish pass.

Just hope these two jobs get done with less mess, and don't take as long to finish.

 A lot of sewage is getting into the stream from this which has needed to sorted for quite some time.