Published: Friday, 17th May 2019
People are invited to discover more about the work currently taking place on the Rivulet and part of Gaywood River in the Walks, King’s Lynn.
There will be a talk and demonstration by local drainage company A D C on Friday 24 May, at 2:00pm, in the Walks to explain the cleaning and de-silting work being done.
Cllr Brian Long, who is attending the talk, says: “Work like this on the Rivulet in the Walks was last carried out over twenty years ago. There is now a significant amount of tree and leaf debris that has built up within the rivulet which has reduced the water level and flow, causing a reduction in oxygen levels in the water.
“The work is required to reduce the impact to the surrounding wildlife and improve the aesthetic nature of the watercourse”.
Michael Reeve, General Operations Director at ADC drainage, says: “The chosen method of work enables us to complete the work without having to drain down the Rivulet and is more environmentally friendly as the wildlife that either live in or around the site are less disturbed.
“By clearing the Rivulet we will be returning it to its original condition making it a more pleasant environment for wildlife but also a more pleasant area to sit and enjoy The Walks in General. We hope that we all will be able to sit and see fish swimming in the Rivulet.”
Schools are invited to visit, by appointment, to take a look at how this environmentally friendly way of dealing with the issues works.
The work on the rivulet in the walks should last for around a month. After this, work will begin on doing the same on Gaywood river.
Drainage company A D C are used by the Internal Drainage Board to de-silt the watercourses under their management and work on projects like this one and is a service provider to the Environment Agency, Natural England, RSPB and the National Trust. The equipment is unique to A D C, being built in Holland, Denmark and Sweden.
A D C has previously completed during the last two winter seasons important Flood Prevention maintenance works for Kings Lynn Internal Drainage Board using this equipment on the Pierpoint and Gaywood Rivers.
The works will consist of collecting the silt within the watercourse (approx. 3596 tonnes of wet waste) this will then be dewatered and the clean water returned to the original watercourse.
The resulting waste (between 1000 & 1430 tonnes) will then be transferred to Greenworld in King’s Lynn for composting.