prevailing low, cold water

Bar a couple of weeks in November there has been barely a trickle of rain here(Kent/East Sussex borders) of late and this is becoming the norm it seems. My local river Medway with its 9-12 foot banks (above 2-3 foot of water)was never the easiest to Barbel fish but recently its been tougher than ever.

Waiting for that nice warm westerly and coloured water to fish would mean seeing the river bank about 1 day per month on average if that. So rather than abandon Boris hunting what techniques would be recommended if winter droughts are going to be the case more often than not?

The upside has been very little angling pressure (only me and a mate have kept at it -though I've snuck off piking more than once). Pre-baiting is definitely an option therefore as its unlikely anyone else will take advantage or be particularly dis-advantaged.

FWIW its usually (99.9% of the time) impossible to see the fish and there is about 2 miles of water I'm concentrating on. The depths are 2-3 feet down to about 10-12 on a few of the bends.

Any thoughts welcomed.

I walked the banks yesterday and can now cross in wellies some bits of the river that have been waist deep even shortly before Xmas. Rather than a fishing issue I think its a water problem.

At the head of the Medway lies Weirwood resevoir which must be getting too close to running dry. Whichever authority controls the flow wanted the "plug to be put back in". In some respects I can't blame them as it is nigh impossible now to reach the water casting from the bank.

Meanwhile downstream I'd read previously that someone (Southern Water?)wanted to abstract 5 million litres per day. Whether or not they've been allowed now I'm not sure but the river looks to be dieing and if its like this during the winter what will summer be like? =((

So far as I could see gravel shallows used for spawning are out of the water and dry. The fish themselves are trapped in various stretches between the rocky shallows but how they will survive this year is anyones guess.

They've just got permission to abstract.

I was reading this on Friday.

They have always had permission but there was a limit of so many million litres a day of river flow and they weren't allowed if it was going any slower than that.

The limit hs now been considerably lowered, as they're already saying we're heading for drought in the south east.

No big surprise. We're building houses by the tens of thousands so demand for water is increasing at a time when our climate's getting drier.

Sooner or later we're going to have to buy into the campaign to save it.

Like, turn the tap off when you're brushing your teeth, only flush the toilet when you have a *number two* etc.

When Prescott announced the number of houses planned for the south east around six month ago (?) the loudest objections were from environmental groups on grounds the water's just going to run out.

Scary stuff, would have thought it's time to start challenging these abstraction licences, they all have to be applied for and advertised and you get 28 days (I think) to write in and object.

Here you are, had a rummage and found it:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4651308.stm

There was a public enquiry of some kind first, so anyone objecting could probably have had their say:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4570174.stm

End result seems a bit at odds with noises the EA were making a few weeks back:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4521224.stm

thanks for the links, Chris.

Just got back from the river and two weeks after the last bit of rain it's not a pretty sight. The only bit of good news
I've read recently was in the Telegraph the other day where it was suggested a wet spring/summer usually follows winters like this one (with high pressure centred upon Iceland IIRC).

Here's hoping anyway. I'd like to see more reservoirs built as we normally get quite a bit of rain in East Sussex. However its not a short term solution and anyway there's no rain to fill them at present.

Here's the skinny from Rob Keywood posted to the Medway forum on BFW for anyone interested (Rob is Secretary and VP of TAFPS)

As someone who?s lived in Tonbridge and fished the Medway for nearly 40 years, it is quite clear that the water authorities past and present do not give a toss about the river. The only interest they have is its use to them as a land drain and water resource. One only has to look at the introduction of the Leigh Barrier and the automatic sluices to see environmental destruction on a grand scale. The principle behind these is to get water to the sea as fast as possible. This is achieved by controlling them on the maximum level of the pen below; if a pen is able to take water then the sluice above will supply it. It is the management of these that will determine the effect the extra abstraction has, but I?ll come back to that after my rant if I may!

The uppermost auto-sluice is at Tonbridge with the Barrier at the head of this pen and the damage to this area has been enormous. As water is now sent to the sea more ?efficiently? the average flow is reduced, also the periods when high flow that scour the gravel beds is limited to very few days (even with normal rainfall). The result has been the total loss of the Shallows section where clear water used to run over gravel providing breeding grounds for miles below. Now the main flow bypasses this area leaving it almost totally silted up with a trickle of water between reeds. Both above and below Tonbridge there used to be extensive gravel beds with a good head of Chub, Roach and Dace. These are largely gone, covered in many areas with a considerable amount of silt, the Dace are long gone and their place taken by Bream. Even above the Barrier the Six Arches and Ensfield Bridge stretches have been seriously affected and are now largely mud bottomed. This is perhaps why the meaningful Barbel fishing starts at Penshurst and it is optimistic to expect any significant and self-populating stocks below this.

Anyway back to the original point! The transfer to Bewl is by the normal transfer pipe from the Yalding area. Assuming they don?t restrict the flow from Weir Wood then the flow upstream of Yalding will not reduce (as presumably they can?t take out more than is coming down). However what I think may happen is that the level upstream will drop. When pumping from the river the pen below will drop and either the sluices above will need to open up to compensate or those below will need to close down. The EA will presumably use the controls to attempt to keep the levels up but this may conflict with the flood control demands. If the levels above Yalding are reduced then it?s unlikely to have much impact above Tonbridge and ultimately is limited by the shallow water at the old lock construction below Ensfield Bridge. This effectively forms a fixed sill and, even when the Six Arches stretch has been dropped for Barrier maintenance, the level above this point can?t fall much beyond it?s current lamentable level. Upstream of this point is also governed by any shallows so hopefully Fordcombe and Ashurst shouldn?t suffer too much. If they manage to keep the level immediately above the barrier unchanged then there?ll be no detrimental affect above; below Yalding will however be a different story.

Unfortunately this is another nail in the coffin for the Medway in general as a precedent will undoubtedly have been set.

Now 45, I have very fond memories of the "Shallows" on the Medway. To me it was the definitive piece of river in terms of how a river should look. It was really beautiful. Now it is a cess pit!! Real shame.

Still no sight of rain.......

They're warning today that unless we get heavy rain in Feb the situation in the south-east is going to get really serious. Be in tomorrow's papers I expect.

It's already on the front page of the Express Chris.

I phoned a friend of mine in the water treatment business. If we do not get any significant rains in the next 3 weeks, they will cut off all water supplies to London and the South East. Stand pipes will be erected in the streets and the average family will be only allowed 5 litres per day.

I am NOT joking here.

But without doubt one of the most pressing problems is that of leaks in the reticulation system. It has been said that 25% of piped water is lost in leaks. Faulty and ancient pipework is the culprit here, and still Blair does nothing.

Oh yes I blame it all on Blair.

First of all by allowing the water companies to make more profit by selling more water! It doesn't pay the water companies to sell less water. They make less money!!.

And this business of hosepipes.

Can I ask anyone why they would ever want to use a hosepipe?

Come on - answer?

I have NEVER used one in my life!!!

And I have lived in a country far more susceptible to drought than here.

If you want water for your garden it must come from the sky.

And bathing. Women particularly have a tendency to fill up the bath almost to the top!

Why?

And finally, I do feel that the fecundity of women should be addressed as this country is overpopulated.

The plugging of the cervix and the emasculation of men would be a darned good idea.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4667574.stm

The "winter drought" across the UK could have "serious consequences", the Environment Agency says.
The drought was at its "most severe" in Kent and Sussex, where some areas had seen their driest conditions since the 1933-34 drought, the agency said.

Two of its reservoirs, Weir Wood (the head of the Medway) and Bewl Water, are just over a third full.

Last week, the Environment Agency granted (Southern Water) a drought permit allowing it to take more water from the river Medway, after Bewl Water reservoir in Kent reached its lowest level since it was built in the 1970s.

Buy shares in Northern bottled water companies now guys before the southerners do, is what I say!
For once we?ve got something they need and can?t do without.
Time to screw them instead of them screwing us all the time.

And no we in the north will never agree to a national water transfer system.

It was only a few years ago I remember seeing my own town listed as 4th-5th wettest in the country (behind all those places I'd visited on school trips in the Lake District and North Wales). When we moved here people asked as what we thought of the weather as it was apparently known for the high average waterfall. Now people joke nervously about stand-pipes and pray for rain.

It apparently cost ?25m to build a pipe to move water between 2 local reservoirs (so as to attempt to equalise levels). On that basis I can't see it being feasible to shift water on a national scale.

Blam, latest news is that they'll be extracting water from the Medway to help fill Bewl Water (or at least that's what I think I read....).
We've had a secomnd drought winter on the trot and next summer is going to be bone dry. I reckon everyone needs to forget about fishing rivers next summer and focus on lakes.... Just a hunch!

Oi Phil! Wee'll just invade and take what water we need!

"and next summer is going to be bone dry"

How do you know that? Predicting 5 days ahead is difficult enough.

Mainly because it effectively hasn't rained for two years and groundwater levels are hitting record lows. Couple those stats with the fact that demand for water has never been higher and the result is that the south of the country is in dire straights.
Reservoirs in Kent are one third their normal levels. If it doesn't rain much before April things will be bad. After April the majority of rainfall water evaporates before it can find its way down to the groundwater.
This winter has been as bad as last winter and the lack of water last winter meant that rivers in the south last summer were very, very low. Towards the end of summer the Dorset Stour was running at less than 50% it's normal flow rate for the time of year.
What will it mean for the fish. Headwaters might well dry out and fish will mass migrate downstream - if they don't, or can't, they'll die. If it gets hot de-oxygenation will be a problem when combined with expected low flows meaning more mortalities. The situation could turn into a right bloody nightmare!! I've been liaising with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the EA and they're all very concerned.

And watch what will happen to all those gravel pits in Kent and Sussex.

They will be pumped dry!

I thought you were giving a weather prediction!

Where I work we overlook Weir Wood resevoir, not a pretty site.