Lewes Forum thread

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Water temperature

On 20 Apr 2011 at 7:25pm Canoeman wrote:

The water in the River Ouse felt not much colder than in the summer to me today. Does anyone know if there should be a significant difference in the temperature of the water from season to season?

On 20 Apr 2011 at 8:13pm Expert wrote:

Pretty certain the sea temps are about 10c at the mo compared to 16-18 c in late summer

On 20 Apr 2011 at 8:52pm MC wrote:

You surely didn't swim in that glorified sewer?

On 21 Apr 2011 at 2:48am SHS wrote:

Strangely in winter the water is even colder. Ice is an indication of temperature.

On 21 Apr 2011 at 11:50am canoeman wrote:

I understand that sea water being a large mostly static body of water would warm up in the summer and hence be colder in the winter. I also recall a lesson at school about ice being an indicator of cold water. My query related to the temperature of the water in the upper stretches of the river Ouse.
I presume the Ouse is partly fed by rain, springs, water table (I don't know but if anyone does please inform). Is there going to be a significant difference in the temperature of the water going into the Ouse at different times of year?
What makes you say the Ouse is a glorified sewer MC? What flows into it to create that?

On 21 Apr 2011 at 2:14pm MC wrote:

Canoeman. Where do you mean by the 'upper stretches of the Ouse'. Sheffield Park, Balcome (not Barcombe)?

The Ouse is fed by a number of things:

Streams (including major tributary the Bevern that rises in the Brighton chalk aquifier).
Springs (largely feeding into the streams)
Run-off (rain, snow, ditches)
Sewage Treatment Works (intermediaries)
The Ardingly Reservoir

I think that's it. Here are some facts pertinent to the Ouse:

1) The streams are gradually drying up. The flow in the largest stream, the Bevern has severely reduced over the last thirty years as an ever more thirsty Brighton depletes the aquifier.

2) South East Water extract a good amount of water from it to fill the Barcombe reservoir. They also use it as a conduit to pass water from Ardingly reservoir to Barcombe reservoir

3) 38 Sewage Treatment works drain into the Ouse catchment

The upshot of most of the above is that there is very little clean water in the river during summer as there is no run off worth speaking about (there's certainly none now!). It is easily provable (using EA flow measurements) that 70% of the water passing through Barcombe Mills in the summer comes from the 38 sewage treatment works. Hence my comment about the river being a glorified sewer. FYI. Although the water from the STWs is filtered it is not UV treated so is not clean and contains all sorts of bacteria and hormones.

As for the temperature. The river water is generally warmer in summer and colder in winter. I can only think that the fact you've experienced anything different must be due to South East Water letting very cold water out of Ardingly reservoir to be collected at the Barcombe reservoir. That's only a guess though.