A 'DEEP SEATED' LEAK BENEATH THE CANAL has been discoved as the cause of the massive breach at Whitchurch on the Llangollen Canal.
This resulted in a mjor incident being declared and the waterway closed for weeks last December, with two narrowboats left at the bottom of a trench and a third hanging over the edge, as pictured
Undetectable
Canal & River Trust told that the leak beneath the canal bed was undetectable to its inspection regime, with its chief executive Campbell Robb, explaining:
"The breach at Whitchurch was a distressing and frightening experience for all those affected.
"We remain deeply sorry for the impact this event has had on boaters and the wider community".
The leakage below the canal bed is thought to have eroded the material bed and eventually created a void, resulting in the collapse of what is a steep sided high embankment predominantly constructed of sand, according to the investigation.
The investigation had not identified other factors at play such as heavy rainfall, overtopping, fallen trees or animal excavations.
Take most of the year
The trust tells that while repairs to the canal would take most of the year, it was already progressing getting the navigation back open as quickly as possible.
This will include completing a 100 metre access track across farmland from the A41, which will be used to bring in 20,000 tonnes of aggregate needed to rebuild the canal's embankment.
The construction is likely to start this spring once in-depth ground investigation works are complete and the embankment has been rebuilt.