Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Manchester Ship Canal and Salford Quays:
industrial legacy and ecological
restoration
ADRIAN E. WILLIAMS, RACHEL J. WATERFALL,
KEITH N. WHITE AND KEITH HENDRY
Introduction
The upper reaches of the Manchester Ship Canal (MSC) and associated dock
basins have been polluted by operational discharges, surface water runoff as
well as upstream inputs from the River Irwell. The resulting poor water quality
has been exacerbated by the deep (7m) water column and limited water
exchange. In this chapter, we describe the water quality management strat-
egies put in place since the late 1980s to address poor water quality, specifically
oxygenation of the water column of the MSC and isolation of the docks from
the canal followed by destratification of the water column and habitat diversi-
fication. We then examine the effectiveness of these strategies in improving
water quality, increasing biodiversity and enhancing the recreational potential
of the enclosed dock basins and the MSC.
Establishing an inland port at Manchester
Long before the Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century Manchester
was already at the centre of numerous industrial settlements located in the
foothills of the southwestern Pennines (Gray
1993
). The success of local industry
rendered the use of traditional transport such as pack-horses and horse-drawn
carts inadequate to meet its needs, leading to the increased use of river naviga-
tion. The main navigable rivers are the Irwell and Mersey, although water
shortages, siltation and mudbanks were obstacles to the reliable transport of
goods (Gray
1993
). Obstructions had already been cleared in the Mersey estuary to
allow vessels to reach Bank Quay, Warrington, and it was suggested that clearing
and dredging the Rivers Mersey and Irwell would enable vessels to proceed as far
as Manchester (Gray
1993
). It was the Mersey and Irwell Navigation Company
