Barbara Dearden-Potter reports:
This problem built up during the week, with water squeezed out of the wet sand of the fill by being pressed down. The boundary rhyne alongside the tramway has filled with stagnant water, which has then reached onto the tramway itself in places.
Contractors ISG Pearce are doing their utmost to contain the problem, drawing off the excess water, and filling holes on the tramway with sand and gravel. They are working together with the Tramway to keep the tramway open.
Barbara is reporting the problem of the stagnant water to the appropriate EDDC officers. We trust remedial action will be taken, and the situation has a chance of recovery over the Easter break.
So it appears that Steve Moore from the Environment Agency was correct about what would happen to the water entrained in the sand. Mind you he said that rain would wash the salty water out of the sand slowly. For water to be running out the the sand just by the compaction process sounds like it is much wetter than I originally thought. If this is the case, then the total amount of salt water being deposited on the site could be much higher. Rather than 60,000 tonnes it could be as much as 120,000 tonnes. As well as impacting on the extensive planting scheme, it may also contribute to higher maintenance costs for the tram. I hope this is not another case of 'experts' getting it wrong!!
ReplyDeleteIf it rains, surely this is the equivalent of squeezing a sponge .... as you hold it under a running tap
ReplyDelete