SO, one of the options proposed by David Brown of the Environment Agency is to drain the River Weaver into the Trent and Mersey Canal.

Well, the last time that I looked, the Trent and Mersey Canal was higher than the Weaver, creating an impossible task to drain water uphill.

Either he is proposing a pump system at Anderton Boat Lift or does he mean the Manchester Ship Canal/Mersey basin?

As is evident all over the UK, the lack of or abandonment of dredging is the problem with many rivers, with the Environment Agency simply ignoring the fact that dredging should be part of the maintenance of all rivers.

When I was a young lad, there were three to four dredgers working on the Weaver at all times and then pumping the silt into lagoons at Vale Royal, Winnington and Acton Bridge.

But then ICI Navy used the Weaver all the way up to Winsford salt mines.

The Environmental Agency must reconsider their scrapping of the dredging system and the lack of maintenance of the locks along the Weaver, as these locks and their sluices can simply be opened to relive any build up of rain water from the Dane and the fields that lie along the Weaver Basin.

It may cost £XM today, but the Environment Agency must act now or suffer the consequences in future years.

Another method of reducing water running off into the rivers is a change in the building regulations, giving all new houses their own rainwater recovery system.

This way rainwater is used to supply all new houses with their water source, except drinking water.

It would keep water from simply pouring into the river system as surface water, and also retain a valuable commodity as drinking water.

R Cawley

Northwich