Not much water yet for Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Today's photograph of Foulridge Upper Reservoir taken by Richard Carpenter will not give any joy to boaters wanting to use the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Richard says that the water level is usually well up onto the darker stones, which gives some idea of how low it currently is.


Photo: Richard Carpenter

Reservoirs that supply the Leeds and Liverpool's central sections are holding less than half the amount of water that they held in June. When levels were approaching 10% British Waterways decided to cut the feed to the canal at the start of August, resulting in the current closure of the sixty miles of waterway between Gargrave and Wigan. Some water had to be left in each reservoir to preserve the wildlife.

British Waterways will only re-open the closed part of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal once reservoir holdings have recovered sufficiently. In spite of recent heavy rainfall it could well be several weeks before this can happen.