…where it comes from, nobody knows, where it goes is plain to see!
If you’ve taken a stroll by the Phase 1 lake recently, you’ll know that it’s looking a lot healthier than it was before the recent heavy rain. The sandbanks have disappeared and this morning I saw no fewer than fourteen swans in residence. Passing the outflow pipe at the eastern corner of the lake, I could see that the lake water was level with the bottom of the pipe: in short, the lake is now full.
A week or so earlier Clive Hayden (of Larksfield Nursery) passed the same outflow but also investigated the other end of the pipe where it discharges into Rampton Drain. It had been raining and the outflow was in full flow. He shot a video which you can see here. Clive commented “[..] obviously a large amount of surface run off from the clay layer they put on top. And no ground water increases as of yet. [We] will need a lot of rain this winter to do any good.”
Hilary Stroude commented: “Why is water gushing off the Phase 1 site after rainfall on 22 October and the lake has filled so quickly yet the ponds, wells and I assume the aquifer have not filled. This shows at the very least that the Northstowe development with its drainage system is preventing trickle down to replenish the aquifer and is instead wasting all that water and sending it off site. That is dewatering – it is just using another way of doing it now.”
My walk this morning took me past the Kingfisher Pond and I can confirm that there is no additional water in that pond following the rains. Even if we accept that the Phase 1 lake has been replenished by rainwater run-off, it is clear that the clay layer distributed across Phase 1 is preventing recharge of the Longstanton aquifer.
Hilary Stroude again: “….there are clearly failures with the design of the Northstowe drainage and lake filling system that need to be addressed. As Bridget Smith said the original plans were designed to stop flooding and nothing else. This water discharge shows that the system to stop flooding is working whilst destroying the environment of the surrounding villages and Longstanton in particular.”