Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Flood barrier construction underway in Gloucestershire

Water World via New Civil Engineer: Work is getting underway on a permanent flood barrier to protect a water treatment works in Gloucestershire, in the event of future extreme weather. In 2007, unprecedented flooding swamped the Mythe water treatment works (WTW) in Tewkesbury, leaving some 350,000 people in the region without clean water supplies for 17 days.

With climate change likely to make weather patterns more unpredictable, Costain has been called in by Severn Trent Water to help safeguard the Mythe plant. The £5.5M permanent flood barrier project involves the installation of a combination of above - and below - ground sheet pile walls, a concrete gravity wall, earth embankments, drainage ditches and dewatering boreholes.

The work itself is relatively straightforward, but Costain has to take account of nearby structures. Concerns were raised that vibrations for the sheet-piling could affect the nearby Grade II-listed Thomas Telford Bridge and its toll booth.…The improved defences are calculated to protect the WTW against a 1 in 1000-year flooding event...

Grafitti on a wall at Stroud, Gloucestershire, shot by Jongleur100

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