The weather this morning was rather chilly but with some sun and, mercifully, no rain. The volunteers met at the Riverside Resource Centre, where the main task of the day was to install Nicospan semi-permeable membranes across streams draining into the cut. The idea is to allow water to pass but prevent silt and grit from washing into the canal. The material that accumulates behind the barrier has to be shovelled away from time to time.
“Nellie” was loaded with the necessary equipment and pulled up to the launch site. Wooden poles were inserted into lengths of Nicospan, that were rolled up and shipped across the canal. Finally, our post knocker made light work of driving the poles into the silt. “Hey Presto” – a barrier is born.
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