LLechwedd · AditNow Community

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JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

18 years ago

Apparantly this was on the news last night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/6522249.stm

There is also a video clip link from that page.

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simonrl
51% (Neutral)
Administration

18 years ago

An entirely pointless and lousy act of vandalism; and if it does indeed result in job losses then another massive blow to the area so close to the job losses at McAlpines.

Unless the water drains into the workings I'm slightly surprised two lakes worth of water cascading down the hill wasn't noticed.

my orders are to sit here and watch the world go by

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

18 years ago

As the flow from these reservoirs flows into the two leats that cross under Rhiwbach incline number three and then down towards Blaenau and normally contain a reasonabl flow I doubt the extra water would have been noticed.
It would certainly seem someone had planned this (especially as both reservoirs were targetted a while apart) quite carefully.
Someone must have a grudge either against the quarry, or RHD himself. I gather he is not the most popular man in Blaenau.

Barney
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

Is the reservoir totally empty now then?

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

18 years ago

Judging by the video clip on that page - pretty much so!

Barney
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

The trout are going to get looted now then! :tongue:

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

18 years ago

At least it wont affect the bats! 😉

jagman
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

not totally
drained down as far as the outlet which would appear to leave at least several feet of water.
Curiously enough the "beaches" are black (presumably from peat)
Was empty on Saturday so presumably valve(s) must have been opened prior to Thursday if it takes a couple of days to empty.

I would have thought that with a little ingenuity replenishing the water would be no big deal, after all Maenofferen and Llechwedd both hold a lot of water. They have ample power supply and pumps that would simply require redirecting.
At most all they would need to do is pop a bigger pump (or another at level they pump upto now) in at the bottom of the incline to lift the head of water higher.

I can understand the anger but perhaps the energy could have been better directed

Barney
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

What is the importance of the reservoir? Surely Llechwedd are not using water power these days, is it to generate their own electricity?

merddinemrys
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#10

I think the main use of it was to keep dust down in the mills. Apparently they're not generating their own electricity at the moment but I would imagine that water comes from the same place as well.

Barney
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#11

I wonder where the retaliation is going to be aimed?

what was the depth of the reservoir?

jagman
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#12

"Barney" wrote:
I wonder where the retaliation is going to be aimed?

what was the depth of the reservoir?

Only between 10 and 15 feet at a guess.
New feed pipe is in the process of being laid down to the powerhouse I think, probably affected by the major road works going on around it

LAP
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

18 years ago

#13

Still plenty of water, being pumped up!

Kein geneis kanaf - Cain gnais canaf
Byt vndyd mwyhaf - byth onddyth moyav
Lliaws a bwyllaf - Líows o boylav
Ac a bryderaf - ac o boryddarav
Kyfarchaf y veird byt - covarcav yr vairth
Pryt nam dyweid - poryth na'm dowaith
Py gynheil y byt - Pa gonail y byth
Na syrch yn eissywyt - na soroc yn eishoyth
Neur byt bei syrchei - nour byth bai sorochai

JohnnearCfon
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

18 years ago

#14

"jagman" wrote:

"Barney" wrote:
I wonder where the retaliation is going to be aimed?

New feed pipe is in the process of being laid down to the powerhouse I think, probably affected by the major road works going on around it

Depends who or what it was aimed at! I believe Blaenau feeling is that it was aimed at RHD rather than the quarry.

The water is required for dust suppression, and is an Elvin Saftee requirement.

The new pipe where it goes under the road and into rear of LLechwedd power station was completed some months ago. As was the section through Llechwedd quarry, not sure about higher up though.

I don't think the pumps at MO could be restarted due to the amount of vandalism that has occured on the surface to the substation etc etc. I think it would need a fair bit of work just to check and make sure the elecrical side of things are safe, even before the pumps were looked at. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the pumps at MO are now inaccessible anyway due to the water now having reached too higher level for them to be accessible even. Maybe someone else on here knows more about that than I do.