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BRITISH WATERWAYS, in a move to reassure boaters, event organisers and waterside businesses, have outlined plans to manage water levels on the Birmingham Canal Navigations over the period of the Chasewater Reservoir works.
 Lichfield District Council, which owns and maintains the reservoir, is due to start essential dam repair works in May which will result in reduced water resources available for the area's canal network, it being the water supply for a vast area.
Measures
To overcome the difficulty, British Waterways are undertaking the following measures:
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Carrying out works to improve the efficiency of the existing Earlswood Lakes feeder supply to reduce demand on the Wolverhampton level
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Increasing weed cutting on the Bradley Arm to improve water flow into the canal network
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Strengthening the maintenance regime and introducing a new control system at Bradley Pumps
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Increasing water control and optimising all water resources. For example by closely monitoring and managing flows over weirs to avoid wasting remaining water supplies
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Locking of the Wolverhampton level at night to allow Bradley Pumps to restore water levels.
 One or more of the actions could be taken at any time over the course of the works depending on factors such as canal usage patterns, rainfall and summer temperatures.
Following the concern of boaters and event organisers in narrowboatworld, BW is also keen to reassure event organisers who may be concerned about the possible impact of the repair works on their events.
Supportive
A BW spokesman relates:
"BW is very supportive of canal festivals, which bring a great deal of colour and life to the canal network, and is working with event organisers to try and retain as many events as possible. In some cases it may be necessary to consider alternative locations, dates and the number of boats attending and BW is working with individual event organisers to assess these issues.
"BW has not cancelled any events unilaterally. Events have only been cancelled after discussions with the organisers and in some cases the event has not been cancelled but moved to a different location or reduced in scale. Any event organisers with concerns are advised to contact the local Waterway Manager Dean Davies on 01827 252000 as soon as possible to discuss their plans."
Dean assures boaters:
"Clearly we'll need the weather to be kind to us but at this stage we're not advising any boaters to change their cruising plans. However we will keep people informed on developments over the coming weeks and months."
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