The little tug ROERDOMP pushes a platform on which sits powerful pumps. Normally the unit is employed inside Gloucester Docks to disperse the silt which builds up each year on the dock bottom. Jets of water at high pressure blast into the silt, which then rises and as it remains in suspension flows out into the Severn via Gloucester Lock.
Soon, sand & gravel is to be brought down the Severn by barge into Gloucester Docks. Over a period of time, silt brought upriver from the estuary by powerful tides, drops to the river bed. This means the water depth reduces, plus the river channel becomes narrower.
The ROERDOMP is working out in The Parting at Gloucester to both deepen the channel and take off some of the bends. She is seen here outside of Gloucester Lock making the river a little wider so that the "cross current" is reduced. This will also assist small craft to navigate more safely into the lock from the river.
Powerful jets cut into the mud
