Named after Prince Regent, the Regent Canal is one of London’s best kept secrets. Starting at Little Venice and ending in London Docklands, the canal stretches 8.6 miles long and passes through some of the city’s best attractions, including Camden Market, London Zoo, Victorian warehouses and many parks.
About the clean-up
Towards the end of last year, the canal was drained by the Canal & River Trust for important maintenance work. Over 1km of the canal, from Mile End Stadium to Limehouse Basin, was cleared so that large, 2-3 ft voids in Regent Canal’s wall could be repaired by specialist bricklayers.
The project is part of a wider £45 million scheme running for five months to help maintain historic British waterways and keep them clean, with this one in particular looking at cleaning up the most neglected parts of London.
Draining the canal
The plug was pulled, so to speak, and all 7.5 million gallons of water was drained to reveal the hidden treasures that lay beneath London’s murky Regent Canal…
The canal’s bed was completely littered with rubbish and unwanted items. Previous years, a hero’s World War One medal and even a moped have been unveiled. In this most recent clean up, there was a huge fish (a 25lb carp to be exact!), traffic cones, iphones, tyres, trolleys, PCs, bicycles, safes and thousands of plastic bags found beneath the dark waters.
With a rescue team to hand, any lost fish who had found their way into the canal were stunned so they could be safely returned to safer, more familiar waters.
The future
Not only is it important to carry out necessary maintenance work on canals and rivers to keep them in good working order, it is also vital to ensure the inhabiting wildlife remain safe in their surrounding environment.
In a year, London’s Regent Canal receives 10 million towpath visitors and 33,000 boats! Keeping the canal clean and safe will allow these visitors to continue to benefit from all the canal has to offer.
Wildon UK
Here at Wildon UK we can remove any unwanted water, helping keep environments safe and clean using our specially designed water pumps, manufactured by leaders in the industry. We can offer our expert advice on which pump is the best one for your job, as we have various different sizes to handle any quantity of liquid extraction. For more information, please feel free to get in touch with us today.
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