Who switched off the tap?

[Coop]

On the way back yesterday I decided to stop in at the drovers car park for a bite to eat and view the falls.
After the rain the past few days and a lot of snow melting I expected beinglas falls to look like niagra falls.
Instead, there was a small trickle of water coming down it.
I know Scottish hydro/water are working up there on the way to Chabhair but come on now, surely they can't have diverted all the water away.

[Skyelines]

It would appear that might be the case.

The Ben Glas hydro http://www.gilkesenergy.com/project/Ben-Glas started operation in September.

[jmarkb]

Yes, it's a bit sad that the price to pay for these hydro schemes (as well as the ugly tracks) is not having spate flows over some of our waterfalls. The one on on the approach to Beinn Bhuidhe has gone the same way, and the Falls of Pattack are due to go too, sadly.

[Sunset tripper]

Yes, it's a bit sad that the price to pay for these hydro schemes (as well as the ugly tracks) is not having spate flows over some of our waterfalls. The one on on the approach to Beinn Bhuidhe has gone the same way, and the Falls of Pattack are due to go too, sadly.

It's too big a price to pay. There is a great fall en route from Garthbeg to the Corbett Carn na Saobhaidhe that has been greatly affected by a run of river scheme. This hillside is also being blighted by new wind turbines with a false promise of saving the planet. The only winners from these projects are the electricity companies and the landowners who get ridiculous subsidies.
For me all that renewables mean is increased electricity bills and the destruction of the landscape.

[BobMcBob]

For me all that renewables mean is increased electricity bills and the destruction of the landscape.

For now perhaps. In 50 years when the oil and gas are running out and the price has gone through the roof your children will be very grateful that our generation had the foresight to think about renewables.

The electricity you use today comes from monstrosities belching poison intp the air, all of which were built on sites that were pristine and beautiful. With the possible exception of Birmingham. The scars created by hydro construction will heal.

Alternatively we can all go back to chopping down trees to heat our homes and cook our food. That re-wilding had better hurry up.

[Billbobaggins]

For me all that renewables mean is increased electricity bills and the destruction of the landscape.

For now perhaps. In 50 years when the oil and gas are running out and the price has gone through the roof your children will be very grateful that our generation had the foresight to think about renewables.

The electricity you use today comes from monstrosities belching poison intp the air, all of which were built on sites that were pristine and beautiful. With the possible exception of Birmingham. The scars created by hydro construction will heal.

Alternatively we can all go back to chopping down trees to heat our homes and cook our food. That re-wilding had better hurry up.

What's Birmingham got to do with it?

[StevieC]

What's Birmingham got to do with it?

Good question Bilbobaggins...I'm not surprised you're upset, Tolkien based The Shire on the area around Birmingham before industrialisation.

[Sgurr]

A tumble dryer on average use costs £37 every year. If everyone with access to a bit of ground or a balcony hung their washing out instead, we could avoid a few of these run if the river schemes.

[Sunset tripper]

For me all that renewables mean is increased electricity bills and the destruction of the landscape.

For now perhaps. In 50 years when the oil and gas are running out and the price has gone through the roof your children will be very grateful that our generation had the foresight to think about renewables.

I don't buy that Bob. Unfortunately the best way to ease the strain on the worlds resources is to reduce the population. I doubt if wind and hydro power can keep pace with the 200,000+ extra people we have on the planet every day.



The Nevis Gorge and Yosemite valley are two places that were planned to be dammed but thankfully escaped. The mighty Colorado River no longer reaches the sea in Mexico as it has been dammed that much and the water extracted by the people of North America.
All these run of river schemes do have an impact though in a smaller scale. I agree that many years in the future the scars of these schemes will heal to a certain extent but unfortunately you will come across more and more new ones which are in the construction stage. Roger T did a great report on coming across one of these. (see below)
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=67966

I came across a few renewable sites under construction or fairly recently finished in the last year including the Beinglas one on the Beinn Chabhair munro route, that Coop is talking about it in his original post, and they are not pretty.

What's Birmingham got to do with it?

You get a good curry in Birmingham.

[Dave Hewitt]

I came across a few renewable sites under construction or fairly recently finished in the last year including the Beinglas one on the Beinn Chabhair munro route, that Coop is talking about it in his original post, and they are not pretty.

I don't know enough about the technical pros and cons of these new-style hydro schemes to really have an opinion on that side of things (apart from knowing that we clearly can't keep burning off fossil fuels forever - and I write as someone brought up in an old mining area), but one of my main hill sidekicks is a retired energy engineer who is very keen on them and I tend to agree.

However, my main point is that while the track etc infrastructure might not be pretty, I don't reckon it's massively intrusive either - at least not longer-term. Last month I visited a couple of the Falloch branches - I'm fond of the Caisteal-Chabhair circuit from Derrydaroch so went to have a look at the changes in the glens. This took me along the track that goes between the two northern ridges on An Caisteal (but not very far - it stops at a little dam at about 350m) and then in descent from Beinn Chabhair the new track in the Allt a' Chuilinn glen leading down to Derrydaroch came into play. Neither felt particularly intrusive, and both have been built in what feels like an old-fashioned style - not dug into trenches, with good drainage and already looking like they'll semi grow back in over time as with plenty of other well-liked tracks across the country (eg the Border hills are full of tracks that hardly anyone complains about). The actual dam/weir structures at the upper end of the tracks are pretty small, and done quite tidily.

My only slight objection to the Derrydaroch track is that it's got two awkward and rather weird walkers' gates at either end of a woodland plantation part-way down. The main track gates here have combination locks, which is fine and legal if there are access gates alongside - which there are, but they're curious heavy flap things that are awkward to negotiate if alone (I cut a finger open on one of them). With two people - or one person armed with a pole or axe that could be jammed through to keep the flap open - it would be easy enough, but they're not as well designed as might be when a simple normal gate would have been fine each time. But as to the tracks themselves, personally I didn't have any objection - especially as both the glens in question, particularly the long Allt a' Chuilinn one - have lots of poor ground and aren't good for walking (and hardly see any foot traffic anyway). Whenever I've been in the Allt a' Chuilinn glen previously, whether heading up to or down from Beinn Chabhair, I've half-wished for a track of some sort (there was just a sketchy and squelchy ATV thing for the shepherd), and what's been put in for the hydro scheme seems reasonable and quite carefully done. The huge majority of ascents of these hills get done by the Coire Earb/Twistin Hill route for An Caisteal and the Inverarnan/Beinglas etc approach for Beinn Chabhair, and the erosion caused by walkers on those routes seems far more persistent and long-lasting than the insertion of a few well-built hydro tracks.

[malky_c]

The main thing that concerns me is the standard of construction that occurs on these schemes is very variable. While it can be a bit depressing finding a construction site in every glen (certainly what it feels like in places at the moment), most of the sites will largely revert back to nature, and the weirs/pipelines/tracks etc will be pretty unobtrusive.

Take a look at the Inverbain scheme near Shieldaig (if you can find it) - barely in 10 years and it is almost impossible to spot! The one up beyond the bothy at Corryhully doesn't look too obvious now either. However the one above Loch Fyne on the slopes of Beinn Bhuidhe (the Merk scheme) I am less sure about - the access track for that seems to have made a fair mess that might not recover so well. A few of the small contractors working on these schemes are a bit cowboy-like and might not be as diligent as you would like.

Disappearing waterfalls is interesting, and sounds like the schemes may not be properly operated. Having worked on a lot of water supply jobs in the past (for drinking water rather than hydro), I know that the maximum amount of water that SEPA will allow you to abstract from a watercourse is a tiny percentage of the overall flow, and would be unlikely to be that noticeable except in really dry periods. I'm sure some of the owners of these schemes take advantage of the fact that they are in remote places and SEPA will never check how much water they are taking, and whether they are breaching their license.

We once came across a scheme in Alladale that seemed to be set up to take all of the water out of a particular burn, even in a typically wet November. We reported it to SEPA and some investigation did occur, but I don't know what the outcome was.

[jupe1407]

I cycled the Incheril to Fada route as far as roughly 6 miles into Gleann na Muice, and certainly it won't be winning any beauty contests for the next couple of years. However I'm sure I read somewhere that it's scheme which will benefit the village of Kinlochewe and it's outlying properties, not just a money-maker for the estate. In cases such as this, I find it hard to have an objection to such a scheme, as unattractive as it might be for a few years. I feel it's a bit unfair for us as brief visitors to say "yeah I know you guys live here, and it's for your benefit, but it spoiled my walk a bit and shouldn't be there".

As Malky points out, Hydro schemes built 10, 20+ years ago are often pretty inobtrusive and almost part of the fabric of our landscape now. Had this site existed back when the Cruachan Dam was being constructed, the servers on which WH is hosted would probably have melted Now it's just a part of the walk. Like the dozens of smaller schemes dotted around the various Perthshire hills which are barely noticeable other than an occasionally useful navigational aid.

TL;DR version: Different "users" of the wilder places are going to have to learn to live with each other.

[jmarkb]

As Malky points out, Hydro schemes built 10, 20+ years ago are often pretty inobtrusive and almost part of the fabric of our landscape now. Had this site existed back when the Cruachan Dam was being constructed, the servers on which WH is hosted would probably have melted Now it's just a part of the walk. Like the dozens of smaller schemes dotted around the various Perthshire hills which are barely noticeable other than an occasionally useful navigational aid.

TL;DR version: Different "users" of the wilder places are going to have to learn to live with each other.

Point taken, but there needs to be a balance between the advantages of renewable energy and the damage done to the landscape. These run-of-the-river schemes generate pretty small amounts of energy: it would take several hundred such schemes to amount to just 1% of the total electricity generated in Scotland. I would prefer on balance to have one large (100MW) hydro scheme like Glen Doe instead of a hundred 1MW micro schemes.

[Sunset tripper]

I cycled the Incheril to Fada route as far as roughly 6 miles into Gleann na Muice, and certainly it won't be winning any beauty contests for the next couple of years. However I'm sure I read somewhere that it's scheme which will benefit the village of Kinlochewe and it's outlying properties, not just a money-maker for the estate. In cases such as this, I find it hard to have an objection to such a scheme, as unattractive as it might be for a few years. I feel it's a bit unfair for us as brief visitors to say "yeah I know you guys live here, and it's for your benefit, but it spoiled my walk a bit and shouldn't be there".

Yes fair point but the only reasons these schemes get built is because there are big profits to be made. Quite often the local communities objections are bought with the promise of improvements to roads and cheap electricity. Kind of like hush money for want of a better comparison and yes who can blame them.

Disappearing waterfalls is interesting, and sounds like the schemes may not be properly operated. Having worked on a lot of water supply jobs in the past (for drinking water rather than hydro), I know that the maximum amount of water that SEPA will allow you to abstract from a watercourse is a tiny percentage of the overall flow, and would be unlikely to be that noticeable except in really dry periods. I'm sure some of the owners of these schemes take advantage of the fact that they are in remote places and SEPA will never check how much water they are taking, and whether they are breaching their license.

Maybe the rules are different if you are taking the water out of the burn but putting it back in further down stream rather than using it for consumption (I'm not sure). The Foyers Falls have been greatly affected by the hydro scheme in the past as have the Falls of Clyde where the electricity company used to organize spates ie natural flow over the falls for local holidays. The falls on the Aberchalder burn above Loch Mhor are due to go the same way as the ones a couple of miles along the Loch on the River E I think.


I understand we cant burn fossil fuels forever but we cant build these hydro schemes forever either, we will run out of burns eventually. Is it ok that the scheme has been built in Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park above Beinglas and possibly seriously reduced the water over the falls? Would it be okay to build a run of the river scheme on the River Dee in the Lairig Ghru also a national park which has tracks most of the way in already? I would hope that is unlikely.

I admit to using these hydro access type of tracks myself on foot and bike for ease of access and avoiding boggy land and I agree for the peak bagger they can be a great help to speed progress. Not everyone is in this category though and places like Foyers Falls and Beinglas Falls have been tourist attractions since before the munro list exsisted.
Apparently the Falls of Falloch were deliberately spared when the new hydro projects were planned but if these developments are ok in a national park I guess they can appear anywhere at all.
Below is an article I found on the scheme below Beinn Chabhair which I visited a few months ago

http://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2016/05/12/glen-falloch-hydro-schemes-1-ben-glas/

[JimboJim]

Someone did mention Beinn Bhuidhe earlier - an example of what can happen -

My brother who, works in this 'field' said the maximum, one is allowed to draw, is 50%. I'd pretty much say, this looks like 100%, if one looks at the flow above the track, then below Not right!

Even only taking 25% will ruin a lot of nice rivers, burns and waterfalls

Jimmy