Déjà vu?

THE subject of the present condition of the waterways (Déjà vu) must be every editor's delight! Masses of words to fill their pages as everyone will have an opinion, writes Jimmy Lockwood.

But wait a minute; perhaps Vince Moran is correct! Let's examine the possibility:

What is being measured and over what time period? We don't know as we were not told.

Examples

I can cite examples such as:

Towpaths—surfaces in many locations, particularly in towns, are good. Cyclists would probably agree. Do you remember what they were like in the 1970's?

Hedges—walkers like them as they are now trimmed regularly and kept neat.

Reservoirs—anglers are happy as well as residents below the dams, for they all conform to the required safety standards.

Wildlife—environmentalists are delighted as this topic receives greater consideration from CaRT than ever it has previously.

Water-flow monitoring—SCADA is much better than nothing which was the position once lengthsmen disappeared.

Boaters measure

However, what do narrowboatworld boaters measure?

I guess:

Waste disposal—in some places the frequency of removal of waste is very poor with overfilling bins.

Toilets—a mixed picture across the network, and often out of order.

Lock gates—still leak but as nobody from CaRT management ever sees a lock from a boat how would they know?

Depth of water—a slight improvement in some places but across the network far shallower than in the 1970's

Vegetation (towpath bank)—rather like the curate's egg and varies by waterway, but more usually neglected.

Vegetation (offside)—generally poor and possibly ‘highjacked' by the environmental team for the wildlife, as overhanging branches are much worse than in 1970's

Inspect by boat

Boaters need to persuade CaRT managers to inspect by boat. Currently they move to waterways by car. The view is different from the water.

Maybe each manager should spend a minimum of two consecutive days and one night cruising the system each year. There are enough of them, thus with planning, every mile of waterway could be covered within three years. (Just where did  Tim Parker's quoted 3,000 miles come from?)

However, boaters need to encourage CaRT to adopt this as policy; just moaning will do nothing constructive.

In better condition?

So are the waterways in better condition? It all depends what you are measuring!

Vince, why not share with us the yardsticks you are using?