Water resources update – when will restrictions ease?
As you’ll be aware, it has been raining. This is navigationally very welcome, of course, but what impact have the recent deluges had on your canal network after the preceding months of parched conditions? Whilst some canal reservoirs can respond quite quickly to rainfall, only last week, the National Drought Group warned that ‘the current drought is far from over despite the recent rain.’
To understand the implications of the recent weather, and if it’s yet resulting in the lifting of navigational restrictions, Dr Adam Comerford, our national hydrology manager, had this to say: “The recent rainfall we’ve seen across the network has been very welcome, after such a prolonged period of drought, the worst for many years. For England, last week’s rainfall (43mm, the week up to 16 Sept) was the most seen in any single week since January, and the rainfall overall (to date) this month is above the September Long Term Average. But we’re not out of the woods yet, unfortunately, and the waterway network is not able to fully reopen yet.
“This is because many of our reservoirs have failed to see any notable recovery from their historic low water levels, and whilst many canal pound levels have shown some useful replenishment, we cannot yet fully reopen as we would still need to draw water from the reservoirs.
“There are, however, some aspects of positive news. Following localised heavy rainfall, the very rapid recovery of level (and hence water holding) in Winterburn Reservoir, which rose over six metres in the space of just four days, the Leeds & Liverpool Canal has been re-opened, albeit with some restrictions still in place (see our notice). Interestingly, none of the other reservoirs in the Leeds & Liverpool group showed any significant recovery in levels, highlighting that we need the rainfall to arrive in the right place to make a real difference!
“Several other canals have seen enough recovery in their water resources situation to provide partial or complete reopening, but as always, we would ask customers to check our notices pages here to find out the latest situation, which as I’m sure you can appreciate, continues to change quite rapidly as the autumn rainfall arrives. It is worth noting that as some canals have been closed for many months, refilling and then reopening may not happen immediately, as our teams need to clear vegetation and debris that may have built up at locks as well as checking and inspecting structures that have been out of water or unused for a prolonged period.”
While it's too early to say that we're out of the proverbial woods, increased rainfall has enabled us to start planning for the lifting of some restrictions in the Oxford and Grand Union hydrological unit - read more here.
Toddbrook Reservoir works on spillway
Helping you home
With winter approaching we want to do all we can to assist those looking to return to a home mooring or winter mooring. As the unprecedented drought of 2025 continues to affect our waterways and navigation, we understand that some boaters remain unable to return to their home mooring due to ongoing closures, and with planned winter stoppages approaching, there may be further delay for those already impacted.
While the reopening of waterways depends largely on rainfall, we are actively reviewing options to support boaters who cannot reach their intended destination. To do this effectively, we first need to understand the scale of the issue and hear from those directly affected.
If this applies to you, please take a few minutes to complete this form linked. Your input will help us assess the situation and explore what support may be possible.
Thank you for your cooperation, and patience, during these challenging conditions.
Annual Public Meeting
Don’t forget that our Annual Public Meeting will take place live online at 2.30pm on Monday 20 October. During the meeting we'll reflect on our activities and financial performance during 2024/25 and welcome our new CEO, Campbell Robb.
You will be able to join the event on the day via our website homepage. If you have a question that you'd like to submit, please send it to [email protected].
Winter moorings on sale next week
While autumnal weather may have only just arrived, believe it or not, there are only 91 days until Christmas. Many of you will have already made plans to winter in a certain location by purchasing a Trust winter mooring.
If this is you then next Thursday, 1st October, you’ll be able to secure your winter mooring. The full list of winter moorings is listed on our website. Some may be currently affected by current drought navigation closures/restrictions, but with the navigational picture changing quite quickly in many instances, we will update the list before they go on sale according to the situation at that time. We appreciate that this will impact on plans for the winter months and ask for your patience and understanding.
Buying your permit
Permits will be on sale on a first come, first served basis, from 8am on Tuesday 1 October and you'll be able to buy your winter mooring permit online.
If you are a current boat licence holder but you don't have an online account with us, please choose the option to register but make sure you fill in your details within the ‘I am an existing Canal & River Trust customer’ section.
Snow on the Llangollen Canal
Maintenance, repair and restoration work this weekend
As the above update demonstrates, the network wasn’t built for extreme weather and it does impact its ability to operate which sometimes mean we have to reluctantly restrict, or stop, navigation.
When this does happen, we get notices up on to our website as soon as we can – it’s always best to have a scan while you’re planning your cruise and also just before you set off. You can find out how to get stoppage notification alerts on your smartphone in this article.
A map of the areas affected by low water levels can be found on the Notices section of our website: filter by reason: ‘Low Water Levels’ and select ‘Map View’. If you think you’ll be regularly checking the map then bookmark this link and it’ll take you straight to the low water stoppage map.
Below, you’ll find a list of navigations that have ongoing restrictions not related to low water levels that may affect you if you’re planning to get out on the water this weekend:
If you have any questions about a specific closure, or spot an error in our system, please get in touch.
Partnership quickly produces results
Volunteering at the Canal & River Trust continues to go from strength to strength, assisting our charity in a huge variety of tasks, with people bringing diverse skills and always huge amounts of enthusiasm. Last week I was struck by this message of thanks from CyanLines for volunteers on the Rochdale Canal for ‘answering our call to clean up the Rochdale Canal behind Deansgate’. Check out the before and after photos below:
Rochdale Canal before clean up
For more details on how you can volunteer to help please visit our website.
Last Edited: 1 October 2026
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