SEVERN SCHEME

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1933, Page 9

SEVERN SCHEME

POWER FOR BRITAIN

FIFTEEN YEARS' TASK

ELABORATE TESTS

Between, seven hundred and _eight hundred years of tides of tho llivor Severn have risen and fallen in Manchester during the past five years in a model at tho Engineering Department of Manchester University. In August, 1926, the building of an exact model of the eightyfour miles of tho Eiver Severn from Barry to Gloucester began its. a huge room set apart for tho purpose, says the "Manchester Guardian." Tho banks hud to be made in Portland cement, with overy curvu and •bend aad irregularity faithfully reproduced; tho bed of the river had to bo constructed in miniature with mild ac fttally dredged from the Severn and sarid approximating to, Severn sand; and machinery had to be devised to get the rise and fall of tides in a way that would affect the bod just as the bed is affected between Hurry and 'Gloucester^ ' By tho beginning, df 1027 it was t(one. Tho equivalent <if a turbine dfint of about seventy-two electricgenerating turbines was set across1 the1 ilver and the work of observing tho effects of the proposed Severn ba.i'ragd began. That work has gone on continuously,' With Mr. J. Allen as observer and recorder, and it ia expected that the observations will be completed shortly. Before going farther with the schema for utilising tho tidal waters of the Severn for generating electric power by the construction Of a bar;riige, described in the final • report of tic Severn Barrage Committee issued recently, information was needed on how so formidable a Sam would affect the height of tides, their rate Of fisa aM fall, the movement of the mud and ■sand of the bed, the tendency to flooding ill the upper part of the river", arid Sevcriil other tilings. TM estimated cost df. the'project ii .£38,426,475, and it will take fifteen years to complete. A' net amlUal output of 2,207,000,000 units will be available fdr transmission t& tho "grid" from a tidal poSvcr station at the barxager The requirements of: tho whole country in 1041 are cstiiiifitinl to , bo 21,000,000,000 units, and tho schoifie ■will provide one-thirteenth of tilts total. ■'• The contemplated station will ■ have an effective capacity nfefly doiibld ■ that of any Station dpefa-tiiig in 1032 in-England. EMPLOYED MEN. ''ft'is estimated that tho nftinbet of iii*n employed will rise gradually fitofii 3000 in tho nrsii year to 12,000 in the imih. thereafter rising faiiiuly tfi a maximum . oi 27,800 lii the. thirteenth yeat. Shis repres'ehts an avei-ago of MMI men, of wlldm 7570 will bfl employed directly on tho baH-ttgo works and in the engineering work's throughout the country and 4454 indirectly. A ftifthef examination oil the gOologi■~Ml features of the fiver by a techni«al slib-OOninlittee states that the" latest fepOft ha* supported the conclusion ■tnftt the most! suitable site would bd <»n« Situated on a liiie appl-oximdtely mtallol to the SeVern .TuiiueL With, eightyrfqiir miles of river, uncldf the <iye of tho investigators and Hides Working tit tho rate of 73.D seconds ti&iA high Water to high water, the -riverbed actually dhahgea heMs One ok the model* Ono. sees, tlio.^ana swirling about as tho dam sluices open, and,. Stftfldlttg at "Newport" or at "CAfdltf" <»* at the mouth of the ''Sivei? Paffet," the tides . ebb and flow roilnd thd islands of Flatholm and Steepholffi with dxttaotdinni-y realism. The tn8d«)l is not beautiful. Only Me olufi jJrlnfc tin the Wall shows onG ■Which is "NawpOft" or "Cardiff." At iii-st Sight the model is merely forty«dd feet 6r so ef gi'Cy Portland CCment, » lot Of Water running about in it, a Jftrge ttttik (which 3s teally thd sea) •With a plUfigef Wbfking slowly up and <loWn, ft number of fipeS, and a feW caUges: But when dtie> lias entered into iU Spirit <lf the thifig-onS finds that iere is the Wye, the Avon, the TJsk, the Pawet,- with water fuaiilng down ttertt into the arid on to the fida. Sere is tho Severn Bridge'at Sharp Sen, though it is Pettily little more than a few wires to represent the piers' in the Wftter.TflfiTßSf. This tin of water uioviiig np and Vlown at the e*nd df an fli-in wheri .the slutees opeii and close is a i-esefvoir in the hills to which the waters of the Wy<3 ate punlped while the turbines at the tartage are working. The"ri, when thesS tUroihes affl not Working, and they &fe idlß fflf sij hours in every 12ji the Watdr' ffdirt the l-es^efvoii? jidurs batik into thS Wye" thrOUgli a number of Becondary tui'bittes. Keally,. these Secondary turbines ate represented by an Tinintofesting grating. The tides rise and fail, itnagination Responds as it sh6Uld, aui one OVerlooks the little ■plfieS that 9Up"|(ly a solution of alum to obfaiii thd effect oi Salt Watef or the plp6 neaf thß bafrage that deposits a Httl6 mUd to get tho right degree of "deposit at that particular point. If anyone should raiso the point Ithat it all Sounds' Well dnotigh, but how ddes anyonb know that the action flf the tides is really being reproduced, there Is an answer for him. The fif e£ ied Was ihddc on a survey"' of 1849. Thiil the rivets began to rtln (supplied by" Manchester Corporation Water--vrorkg); the1 tides' began; to flow backward and fOf ward through the carefully fciinstfUtited "rfloUth," and when 'se"v•ehte'en.yejtrs" had parsed the cdndition of the bed WaS compared With tho Adiriifalty1 chart of 1866. Another "tWetfty yeari" passed, and %l\6 bed was Coffipafed With tho chart ■of 188& The same thing Was done for 1801 arid for 1927. Tho l'esemblarice at oaCh. stage Wag 36 cloSe that the iriveStigators WSre gatlsified. The dam Was pilt in, ana ndw Manehestef's" Severn iS jiearing the yeaf "A.D. 2700.' y And if some6nS should say Wisely, "Ah, but las allowance been madb iot neap,arid sptintf tides!" thd answer is that the iniemnery behind the plunger produces them aS regularly and as thoroughly as 'Natufd itself. iNot only that, ati occasional storm is arranged with the help •of electric' fans.