SMART – Sediment Mitigation Actions for the River Rother, UK
The River Rother, West Sussex, is suffering from excess sediment which is smothering the river bed gravels. This is thought to be exacerbating issues of pollution and degradation of ecosystems. This project aims to identify the severity, extent, possible causes and potential mitigation options a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2017-03-01
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| Series: | Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.proc-iahs.net/375/35/2017/piahs-375-35-2017.pdf |
| Summary: | The River Rother, West Sussex, is suffering from excess
sediment which is smothering the river bed gravels. This is thought to be
exacerbating issues of pollution and degradation of ecosystems. This project
aims to identify the severity, extent, possible causes and potential
mitigation options available to reduce these pressures on the river. Data
have been collected from ten sites to investigate the amount of sediment
stored in the river bed gravels and cores obtained from four small
reservoirs to establish rates of sedimentation and contribute to the
construction of a temporal sediment budget over the last 50–100 years.
Evidence suggests that tributary streams have more stored sediment per m<sup>2</sup> upstream
of their confluence with the River Rother compared to the Rother itself.
Reservoir core data indicate that sediment has accumulated more rapidly in
the small reservoirs surrounded by mixed agricultural land compared to one
surrounded by ancient woodland. These are preliminary results and work is
continuing. |
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| ISSN: | 2199-8981 2199-899X |