Canal & River Trust: Greener Dredging on Weaver River (UK)

The Canal & River Trust has managed to avoid the costly removal of over 1,000 tons of sand generated by the recent dredging work on the River Weaver.

The sand will now be used as construction material for a nearby waterfront development.

“We started dredging the River Weaver in May to maintain its depth for navigation. From the outset of this dredging project we’ve been exploring options to re-use the sediment rather than having to pay for its disposal,” they announced.

Discussions with the contractors working on a retail-led development scheme at Hayhurst Quay in Northwich led to the arrangement to off-load approximately 1,000 tonnes of sand material generated by the dredging operation onto the site for use as fill material.

The sand washed into the River Weaver comes from the River Dane. Sampling and analysis showed the sand to be very clean and suitable for use as a construction material.

Great cost savings

The use of the river material provides great cost savings for the developers as well as benefitting the environment greatly. The disposal of approximately 1,000 tonnes of dredged sand has been avoided and the development site has reduced its requirement for virgin raw materials.

An added environmental advantage was that the dredged material was delivered by River, which avoided wagon movements to and from the development site.

Adam Matthews, operations director at ADM Regeneration says: “This ticks all the boxes for us in terms of sustainability.”

[mappress]

Press Release, March 13, 2013