We’ve seen a rise in weir works as flooding and higher levels of weed growth with warmer weather block these important water infrastructure features. The high temperatures have seen weed growth boom this year and with the increased flooding events, the importance of keeping weir structures free of vegetation, silt and debris is ever increasing.
The weirs are often located in hard to reach locations where there is little or no land access. The Rothen Group’s experience and innovative floating plant allow for the works to take place with a few pieces of specialist kit. Mostly, our crane boats are deployed. They can be fitted with a clamshell bucket to grab the aquatic vegetation & silt out of the water and into tanks within the boat, before transporting the material to a discharge site and removing straight onto the bank/disposal skip. The boats provide welfare facilities for the site teams, allowing a ‘complete floating solution’ to aquatic vegetation clearance & dredging.
Due to the reach of the grab barges, they can also be used to clear structures beyond the towpath, outside of the main watercourse. This again can help where access is usually only viable through fields, where autumn & winter working becomes very restricted with boggy conditions and farmers crop rotations.
Whatever the problem, our adaptive floating plant can be utilised to help clients with the management of flood risk.