The Grand Contour Canal in England was intended to form part of the British canal system, but was never built. This canal was proposed in 1943, and again ten years later. It was so named for its height above sea level, 310 feet (94 m). It was to be 100 feet (30 m) wide by 17 feet (5.2 m) deep, with 25 feet (7.6 m) headroom.
It was intended to connect the major industrial centres of London, Bristol, Southampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Nottingham, Derby, Chester, Manchester, Blackburn, Bradford, Hartlepool and Newcastle, with vertical lift locks at the nine termini, having tanks 250 feet (76 m) by 35 feet (11 m) by 14 feet (4.3 m) draught. A 6-mile (9.7 km) long tunnel was proposed between Airedale and Ribblesdale.
The scheme was intended both for transport and for a water supply grid - for which perhaps its time has now come, for water distribution is becoming a major problem, particularly in London and South East England. Indeed, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, showed his support for the scheme as a way to transport water from the higher, and wetter, areas of Wales, Scotland, and northern England to the 'breadbasket' of the south east.[1] A maximum flow of water of some 2,000 cu ft/s (57 m3/s) anywhere in either direction was visualised, sourced from the Northern Pennines 800 square miles (2,100 km2), The Dee, the Severn and the Wye 1,040 square miles (2,700 km2) and Exmoor 160 square miles (410 km2)
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The Elan Valley Reservoirs scheme (1892) in mid-Wales (capacity 99,000 megalitres) which includes (with four others) the Craig Goch Dam[2] provides water to Birmingham (pop. 1 million), but was designed looking forward 63 years.[3][4][5]
Lake Vyrnwy was created by the construction of the first large masonry dam in Britain, between 1881 and 1888, to provide an urgently needed new water supply for the growing city of Liverpool, and the water from the Welsh mountains was to be carried by an aqueduct to the city.[6]
The Longdendale Reservoir, in the Pennines 18 miles (29 km) east of Manchester, was one of the first of its kind in the country when it was opened in 1851. By 1875 it was obvious that growing population of the city would need even more water, so plans were drawn up to construct a reservoir in the Lake District.[7] Thirlmere (1894) now provides water for Manchester 100 miles (160 km) away.