Salix won an open tender to undertake lake improvements to help both fish habitat and use for water polo at Parc Taf Bargoed, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

Over many years aggressive erosion upstream of the lakes had seen a large quantity of sediment deposited in the lakes to the point that the upper lake was almost full apart from the river channel and Bargoed lake was reducing in depth and giving issues in water quality due to the depth and the water kayak club were unable to host championship events.

The scheme was to create a long linear island to divert the main flow to one side of the lake and over the weir while the lake would be deepened to 1.2m to allow the water polo to continue. Local deeper pools would also be formed to improve fish habitat and fishing.

Salix mobilised to site and began to construct the linear island from Nicospan. It soon became apparent that the bottom half of the lake had been backfilled with rock and rubble during the construction of the dams during the 1970s. This put the whole project at risk as the stakes supporting the Nicospan could not be installed. Salix met with the council, fishing club and kayak club to openly discuss their requirements and what could be achieved considering the ground conditions.

While compromises in what all parties had hoped to achieve, we were able to desilt one area of the lake to enable matches to be played for years ahead and the upper part of the island was constructed to improve biodiversity to the lake and allow deeper pools to be created for the fishing club. Areas of drainage were also improved around the site to enhance the circular walk and the sluice cleared of silt and debris to allow proper operation.

The work took approximately 10 weeks to complete including the planting of the new island.