Dredging work to clear waterway and cut flooding risk

A dredging barge will be on site for much of the week breaking up and removing silt.

In all 5,000 or 6,000 tonnes of silt will be taken out of Fleet Drain, a 60-metre culvert which tunnels under a railway and the A63 Clive Sullivan Way and Hessle Haven, its outfall to the Humber.

The Environment Agency says silt is building up at a rate of around 100mm a month.

The clearance work is costing £120,000.

If culverts and outfalls are heavily blocked by silt, water cannot flow freely leaving areas upstream at increased risk of flooding.

Paul Stockhill, from the Environment Agency, said all kinds of things had been dumped in the Haven, from tyres to traffic cones. To get to the culvert they had to drag out a submerged barge from the middle of the channel.

Shipbuilding went on in the Haven from the late 17th century through to the 1990s. But it is now closed to navigation.

Less frequent sluicing – where water is held back in Fleet Drain and then released to flush out the Haven – as well as less usage and natural processes in the Humber are being blamed for the build up of silt.

Mr Stockhill said they wanted to see silt levels in the culvert and outfall return to a “manageable” level, to allow the maximum amount of water to flow out of drains during flooding..

He explained: “It’s a little bit like pulling a plug out or having it fully open. If you pull it half out, then obviously you won’t empty your bath as quickly.”

Installation of emergency pumps at Hessle Clough is also nearing completion.

These will allow extra water to be pumped from Fleet Drain during a flood.

This is particularly important if high water levels in the drain coincide with a high tide, which can prevent the water flowing out from Fleet Drain.