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Where has the West Twin Brook gone?

A

Andy Sparrow

Active member
Yesterday, for the first time in my 37 year experience, there was no water flowing in West Twin Brook (the Goatchurch valley).  The stream bed at Flange Swallet was bone dry and even up as far as the adit entrance there was barely a trickle.  There was no flow from the concrete basin which is supplied from water in the adit.  The disappearance of both these water sources seems bizarre - one a surface stream but the other fed by springs deep inside the sandstone of Blackdown.  One wonders if there is a new borehole or other source of water extraction which is having this extreme effect on the hydrology?
 
graham

graham

New member
There is no new abstraction from the area, that I am aware of. However, I am not really surprised. Tratman* noted 45 years ago that both the Twin Brook streams are quickly affected by rainfall and will dry up completely. He also noted at that time that the streams would dry up more rapidly and more frequently than forty years earlier. This is a long-term effect.



*Tratman,E.K., 1963. The hydrology of the Burrington Area, Somerset. UBSS Proceedings, 10(1) , pp 22-57
 
tony from suffolk

tony from suffolk

Well-known member
I can remember in my very early caving days this being dry once. We used to top up the carbides from the rising on the right just before the adit. No water so we had to top up with... other means.
 
A

Andy Sparrow

Active member
tony from suffolk said:
I can remember in my very early caving days this being dry once. We used to top up the carbides from the rising on the right just before the adit. No water so we had to top up with... other means.
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I don't doubt that there have been rare occasions, during prolonged periods of drought, when the stream and 'spring' have failed but for this to occur at the current time is unprecedented. 
 
stealth

stealth

New member
so considering all the rain weve had lately, has any one got any ideas why the streams should fail. hmm interesting
 
graham

graham

New member
stealth said:
so considering all the rain weve had lately, has any one got any ideas why the streams should fail. hmm interesting
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I can't speak for Mendip, 'cos Bob's weather station has been playing up, but here, 30 km north of Burrington, we went 8 days without rain in the run up to Andy's post and the stream  250 m from where I am sitting failed. That didn't happen 20 years ago, either.
 
stealth

stealth

New member
so if the wtb stream fails does that mean the small stream in waterchamber in GC fails as well, as i believe that is fed by the wtb stream.







( must get back into posting on here been away far too long)  ;)
 
Burt

Burt

New member
Bizarrely not, or at least it hadn't failed when I looked at it when the surface stream was dry.
However, its pissed down here for days now so we'll have to wait for another 37 years (maybe) to see.
 
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