Project: River Derwent, Cumbria, UK

The site is located on a reach of the River Derwent in Barepot, approximately 0.75 km east of Workington, Cumbria, UK.

Following recent major floodings increased erosion of the right bank of the River Derwent had impacted upon various key assets. Detailed bathometric survey undertaken in late 2017, followed by hydraulic modelling of the existing channel and flood plain to build a map of bed, bank and floodplain flow velocities and map shear stress for 1:200-year flood return events. The solution to controlling the erosion in the scour pools came in the form of AquaRockBags®.

Facts

  • Severe erosion upon key assets through recent major floodings
  • The use of a bioengineered design was favoured over traditional hard engineered bank protection because the site is ecologically sensitive
  • Combination of AquaRockBags® and further bioengineering solutions was used, e.g. toe logs, rootwads, tree planting on reprofiled banks and high performance turf