SOMETHING remarkable has been quietly unfolding north of the border, and the vital player at its centre? The Forth & Clyde Canal. Once a throbbing artery of trade and profit before its decline and closure in 1963, it is once again helping to shape the future of Glasgow. Helen Gazeley reports…
The Forth & Clyde is at the centre of an urban regeneration project to the north of the city. Until now, intractable floodwater and drainage problems, partly thanks to a sewerage system at full design capacity, have stymied development. This project is opening up 110 hectares of land and the promise of 3000 new homes.
It’s inspiring on a number of levels. The simplest explanation of what it does is that, when storms threaten, the level of water in the canal is lowered by as much as 10cm, creating an extra 55,000m3 capacity, which allows surface water to drain from the surrounding residential and business areas and prevents flooding.
The full picture of what is The North Glasgow Integrated Water Management System, universally known as the Glasgow Smart Canal, involves an intricate, integrated system of automated water control outstations that monitor water level, flow, and quality, along with drainage ponds, granite channels, underwater sensors and automatic lock gates and weirs that are governed by software which uses a real-time hydraulic model – a digital twin of the physical network – to predict how much water storage will be required and directs feeder and discharge sluice positions to prepare the canal to take up to 80% of the predicted volume of excess water.
At the same time, water wastage has to be minimised, canal traffic must keep moving, and timing is of the essence; reducing the level of the canal by 10cm takes about 18 hours with all sluices open. Not doing it in time risks flooding; doing it too early increases the chance of inaccurate forecasting, and too much water is removed.
For a full and awe-inspiring description of how the system works, read the article by Debbie Hay-Smith, principal engineer with engineering firm AECOM, one of the partners in the project alongside Glasgow City Council, Scottish Water, Autodesk software, and Scottish Canals (waterprojectsonline.com/case-studies/smart-canal-2022). More info on the IT can be found in Autodesk’s video explaining digital twin software, introduced by Peter Robinson, Scottish Canals’ chief engineer (youtu.be/SEUH9xcH3OM).
The project was designed and developed to be environmentally and financially advantageous too. Costing £17 million and designed to last 60 years, it’s estimated to have saved 75% of the cost of a standard drainage solution – which could have involved a tunnel being driven under Glasgow. It ticks boxes on climate change adaptation, net zero climate contributions, biodiversity and commercial opportunities.
A significant plus for the project is that, according to Richard Millar, chief operating officer of Scottish Canals, interviewed by the Glasgow Bell (www.glasgowbell.co.uk), the smart canal will bring in income by charging residents through Scottish Water for their connection to it. In effect, it pays for itself.
It’s not without controversy, though. The canal crosses some of the most deprived areas of Glasgow, and the urban renewal has been criticised for displacing residents from newly desirable areas to make way for mixed income developments that are mainly privately owned. Millar is quoted as keen to ensure the project is not about the gentrification of the canal.
So, is there room for identical projects in England? Possibly not – one of the Forth & Clyde’s advantages is its 30km-long summit pound which acts as a reservoir – but that doesn’t mean that the canals aren’t earmarked for their potential in controlling water issues. The Rochdale Canal is already alleviating flood risk to a West Yorkshire village by carrying overflow to a floodplain, while there is a scheme in development to transfer water south from the Midlands.
Glasgow’s Smart Canal is the first of its kind in Europe. Meanwhile, in January, the Canal & River Trust announced that its first Climate Adaptation report had been handed to the Government. After decades of being seen as a quaint remnant of history, our canals are beginning to lead the way.
