Silt Sampling & Bathymetry Survey - Barcombe

Barcombe Silt Sampling and Bathymetry Survey

Situated alongside the scenic River Ouse and its excellent angling spots, Barcombe Reservoir near Lewes in East Sussex is one of many water sources operated by South East Water (SEW). They provide drinking water to 2.2 million consumers from Kent to Berkshire, of whom consume on average 521 million litres of a day.

Due to playing a small but pivotal role in providing these vast quantities of water, the reservoir requires regular maintenance to remove excess silt and fine sediment, which, if left to accumulate, will restrict its capacity.

Furthermore, this reservoir is also set to house a series of photovoltaic cells as per an agreement between SEW and Ennoviga Solar Ltd. Therefore, Exo Environmental were contracted not only to carry out a bathymetry survey to advise any potential silt dredging, but also to take sediment samples for its geotechnical and chemical properties to better inform the installation of these solar panels.

After making the fairly long trip down South, the work began with a singlebeam bathymetry survey. We used a Teledyne Odom Echotrac CV100 mounted on a dinghy and followed survey lines from East to West and North to South to collect all the data necessary.

Following on from this, we then used our manual piston sampler to collect sediment from 20 equally distributed points across the reservoir. Sampling at each point followed a strict methodology that included recording GPS coordinates, water depth, sediment depth and any visual observations such as colour, odour and debris

Upon completion, these samples were then transferred by our team to a UKAS accredited laboratory at Eurofins for full analysis. All our findings were then presented to Ennoviga Solar and SEW, informing them on what the next steps might be for the reservoir.

If you would like to find out more about sediment or water depth surveys we offer, please get in touch.