Wroxham Bridge Height

[kpnut]

That was just under a couple of hours after low tide. I’ve given up even hoping for a while!

[BroadAmbition]

Yet more real time evidence of Wroxham Bridge going the same way as PHB. We all knew it was coming. It’ll keep getting worse too until the Lower Bure gets cleaned out, if it ever happens 

Griff

[TheQ]

The wind is switching round to the south west tomorrow, give it a couple of days and the water will get a lot lower.

[marshman]

Perhaps whilst you are at it, you could also stop it raining!!! I recorded over 20mm of rain overnight the night before last - whilst this time of year, you would normally see that disappear, some fields were seeing large puddles of water gathering showing just how wet the ground still is. And this on pretty sandy soil, old heathland, and I guess without the rain, you would also see a marked difference.

[kpnut]

35 minutes ago, marshman said:

I recorded over 20mm of rain overnight the night before last - whilst this time of year, you would normally see that disappear, some fields were seeing large puddles of water gathering showing just how wet the ground still is

I think that’s partly why we’re still seeing such high water levels. There’s still a lot of water to drain down from further up the catchment. And instead of a rainstorm filtering in slowly, it is having a pretty immediate effect. 

[Graham47]

The bridge height is currently 6’ 3” with low tide at about 11.30. 

[Graham47]

The tide must have already turned. You cannot see the 6’3” marker now. I looks to be about 6’2” on the gauge currently.

 

[marshman]

After this week I honestly don't see the water going anywhere quickly - the catchment area must be very full with a lot upstream still backing up waiting to even get downstream of Wroxham. I may be wrong but we shall see I guess.

[Meantime]

On the Southern Broads water levels do not seem too bad at the moment. 7ft 2in under Beccles old bridge 3 hours before high water. The system seems to be draining well despite the rain.

Even the lake that has surrounded Griff's pub most of the Winter has subsided. So why is it taking so long for the Northern Broads to drain? Herring Bridge would be a restriction for both the Northern and Southern Broads, so can possibly be ruled out. I'm no scientist but it seems like there MUST be a restriction somewhere on the Lower Bure. The BA could prove or disprove this theory once and for all by doing some dredging on the Lower Bure.

It is currently 3hr to low water at Beccles old bridge and project Troll is showing 7ft 5.5in. Maybe the Northern Broads have just had a lot more rain than the Southern  or maybe there is something stopping the water draining from the North. 

I know the Bure drains a lot of land, but so does the Waveney, possibly more than the Bure?

[Lulu]

 

32 minutes ago, Meantime said:

The BA could prove or disprove this theory once and for all by doing some dredging on the Lower Bure.

I agree. Just curious, how long is the stretch of the ‘Bure hump’ and how long would it take to dredge? I feel our first ever trip under Wroxham bridge to Coltishall may never happen the way things are going 😞

[RS2021]

As the levels on the northern rivers have gradually been getting higher over many years, if they were to suddenly dredge the lower Bure and reduce them it may expose many other areas which have not been dredged and are now too shallow. Maybe the reason for not dredging the lower Bure was not just to save money there but save the costs of wider dredging over the Northern rivers. Not sure I'd like to own a riverside property if that's the policy.

[NotDeadYet]

On 11/06/2024 at 15:21, BroadAmbition said:

Yet more real time evidence of Wroxham Bridge going the same way as PHB. We all knew it was coming. It’ll keep getting worse too until the Lower Bure gets cleaned out, if it ever happens 

After watching the same piece of flotsam go up and down the Upper Bure over three tides two weeks ago, I'm convinced this river is currently a lake. 

[CambridgeCabby]

Yes , the general consensus is that routine dredging is needed to alleviate the holding back of the receding tide but we must not forget that this year the rainfall has been record-breaking and even if the dredging of years past had been maintained the level would still have been excessively high.

It’s not all doom and gloom , when (or perhaps if) the rain ceases the level will fall and those areas above Wroxham will once again be available to boats designed to pass under the bridge .

[grendel]

why then if the river levels are generally higher is it that we are still hearing of boats grounding on the lower bure- unless the bottom has risen to match the higher water levels, will the receding water levels reveal an unnavigable lower bure?

I dont believe there is a huge gradient along the bure (difference between water height at the source and at the river mouth) so it wont take a lot of silting of the lower bure to stop the flow altogether.

[CambridgeCabby]

Again I agree with you , the silting up of the Bure is certainly a problem as far as navigation is concerned but I was specifically responding to the threads concern as to Wroxham bridge levels .

Surely as the BA’s remit is maintaining navigation then they are failing in their duties and that action needs to happen sooner rather than later or the dredgers and barges won’t be able to reach the “hump” due to insufficient draught .

[Bikertov]

45 minutes ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Again I agree with you , the silting up of the Bure is certainly a problem as far as navigation is concerned but I was specifically responding to the threads concern as to Wroxham bridge levels .

Surely as the BA’s remit is maintaining navigation then they are failing in their duties and that action needs to happen sooner rather than later or the dredgers and barges won’t be able to reach the “hump” due to insufficient draught .

At least that would PROVE there is a problem !

[marshman]

Area wise the Waveney catchment area is 666 sq km and the Bure 880 sq km - but of course into the Bure figure you have to add the Thurne and the Ant but for reasons best known to www. I can only find the latter in sq. hectares and I am too lazy to do the conversion. What is interesting is the fall in the Waveney is much more, almost 30 m whereas the Bure/Thurne, from Hickling is only 1 m.

The BA may consider dredging the Lower Bure again, if the EA would give permission but my guess it will not be forthcoming in the short term. If you read the latest NSBA Broadside, they would suggest that visual observation would suggest that part of the problem around Marina Keys seems to have gone away by natural causes with it now appearing to have either gone or moved, for the moment! From reading the postings on this Forum, the "humps" positioning itself is debatable, other than somewhere between Stokesby and Yarmouth, and if those who pay tolls have to pay for dredging that length, your tolls will rise considerably higher! Or it won't happen!!

Add to that global warming and the general rise in water levels, which really is happening annually,

L

[Meantime]

3 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Yes , the general consensus is that routine dredging is needed to alleviate the holding back of the receding tide but we must not forget that this year the rainfall has been record-breaking and even if the dredging of years past had been maintained the level would still have been excessively high.

It’s not all doom and gloom , when (or perhaps if) the rain ceases the level will fall and those areas above Wroxham will once again be available to boats designed to pass under the bridge .

And I'm assuming the rainfall has been equally record breaking on the Southern Broads, so how come they have now recovered to normal levels? Let's not forget the run off from the Yare valley would also slow the run off from the Waveney. 

Perhaps the old Broads commissioners knew a thing or two about their patch, such as slower draining rivers need more dredging! As Marshman said the fall on the Bure is a lot less than the Waveney. 

[YnysMon]

I’m not sure it’s possible to make a comparison of the northern and southern rivers. They seem like chalk and cheese. 

It’s not just that the fall of the Waveney is greater (presumably the Yare also?), but given the width of those two rivers, surely that means water can drain out faster? The tide, especially the falling tide is so much more noticeable, all the way up to Beccles and Norwich. 

When we were moored at Brooms we had a few winter allocations in which we had flooding due to the locking effect of high winds. On both occasions, once the winds had died down the effect on the Yare was as if someone had pulled out a plug. The river level got really low for a day.

I’ve never seen anything similar on the northern rivers. There the flooding there just takes ages to drop. 

[Meantime]

When I first hired a boat, coming down the Lower Bure it was noticeable how the tide used to take the back of the boat on the bends such was the strength of the ebb. I haven't felt that in over ten years if not more.

[Graham47]

It’s looking better this morning. Currently the bridge height is 6’6” with low tide at approx 13.30hrs.

[marshman]

Wroxham is above the official NTL (Normal Tidal Limit) and is impacted more by waters coming down from the headwaters - to be honest some days I doubt there is much rise and fall anyway.