Wait before river is normal

The water levels of the River Welland in Spalding won’t be back to normal for a while yet, the Environment Agency has said.

The authority does though claim it will look to increase the levels soon with the draining of Cowbit and Crowland washes progressing.
However it’s also said it won’t be back fully until the breach near Crowland from recent floods had been fixed.
It states it’s looking to start work on that ‘mid-April’.
The Voice asked when work was scheduled to be completed but it had not received a reply at the time of going to press.
It comes amid worries for the wildlife while the Welland Yacht Club revealed it’s had to cancel competitions and the operator of the Spalding Water Taxi called it a disaster for its operation.
It was meant to have its opening weekend of the season this Easter but can’t run due to the low water levels.
“The water is deeper around where the boats are moored, but parts of the Coronation Channel and Welland are so shallow the boat is unable to get down,” said Spalding Water Taxi operations manager Anthony Grunwell. “The jetty at Springfields and in the town centre aren’t safe to use currently.
“It’s a disaster for the water taxi as we were supposed to open on Good Friday.
“I know a lot of people from out of the area would be looking to use it.
“We’re in the hands of nature to be honest.”
There’s also concerns about wildlife.
Coun Mark Le Sage posted a video online this week of a swan being in part of the river near the South Holland Centre that was so shallow it couldn’t swim properly in it.
A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “The draining of the Crowland and Cowbit washes has been going well. Significant progress has been made.
“We are anticipating that in the next few weeks we will be able to stop using Locks Mill sluice to get water out of the washes. This will allow us to increase the water levels from their current very low levels but not back to the full height.
“We will still have to keep water levels lower than normal until the breach has been fixed. We are hopeful that we will be onsite to fix the breaches from the middle of April.”