Bridgewater Canal tour highlights work of Coal Authority
Visit to waterway and mine water treatment scheme near Manchester.
Visiting our Bridgewater mine water treatment scheme.
Staff from one of Europe’s largest environmental consultancies have enjoyed a guided tour of the Bridgewater Canal near Manchester with the Coal Authority.
Our contract service manager Chris Crowe took 5 members of RSK on a 90-minute walk along the canal from Worsley.
He explained the work we carry out on the waterway as well as our nearby Bridgewater mine water treatment scheme, built in 2004.
The visit was requested by Ian Clark, director of RSK Land and Development Engineering, after he saw coverage of a similar fact-finding tour by our board of directors.
He said:
The Bridgewater Canal is a real engineering landmark in the north of England.
As civil and structural engineers and hydrologists, we were very interested in knowing about the Coal Authority’s involvement.
We were fascinated to see the coal mine water being going through the system - and the noticeable improvement in water quality from the start to end of the treatment train.
It proved to be a hugely interesting and informative day.
Engineers and hydrologists from RSK enjoyed a 90-minute walk along the canal from Worsley.
Chris Crowe said it was always a pleasure to be able to share the authority’s work:
We design, build and operate 75 mine water treatment schemes to deal with water that flows from former collieries including the one at Bridgewater.
We are also responsible for an ongoing programme of remedial works along a 11.5 km section of the canal and have carried out strengthening and piling work, as well installing new stop gates and rebuilding and replacing other structures, such as bridges.
The 65km canal was built by the third Duke of Bridgewater in the 1760s, to connect coal mines at Worsley with Manchester and Leigh.
It was acquired by the Manchester Ship Canal Company in 1885 and is now owned by Peel Investments Ltd.
However, due to an act of Parliament, we continue to maintain the canal between Leigh and Monton.
Here, our chief executive, Lisa Pinney, explains more about the board’s visit and why it was so important:
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