Talk:River Dee, Wales

External links modified (January 2018)
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Canoeing and 'tidal section'
The article contains the following text: "Canoeing and kayaking are also permitted between Farndon and Chester, as this section of the river is tidal and falls under the jurisdiction of Cheshire West and Chester Council." One or two observations; to what extent is this really tidal? The weir in Chester forms the normal tidal limit though spring tides do overwhelm it and cause river water to back up upstream but quite how far - as far as Farndon? Some additional explanatory text might be appropriate here. And secondly what is meant by 'under the jurisdiction of CWAC Council'? Part of the described course has the national border running down the centre of the river so any 'jurisdiction' would be expected to be shared between the authorities on either side (CWAC and Wrexham CBC). There is perhaps an agreement that CWAC has jurisdiction over navigational rights over a certain stretch but surely jurisdiction for most purposes (water quality, fisheries, flood defence etc) will fall to Natural Resources Wales on the one hand and to the Environment Agency on the other? Again explanatory text would help the reader. cheers Geopersona (talk) 12:22, 31 December 2018 (UTC)


 * The uncited claim was added by an anon IP; I'd concur that it sounds dubious. This may have been the source, which states "ACCESS HASSLES: Tidal and an historic navigation, so you have full right of passage." – my instinct would be that there is probably de facto access, but no legal right of access (mind you, that's coming from a position of complete ignorance on my part, as a walker rather than a canoeist). Dave.Dunford (talk) 13:41, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

Length
I had concerns about the stated length of the river in the article for various reasons; i) it comes from EB1911 which is frequently inaccurate, ii) it's unclear where it is deemed to end with I suspect different editors assuming different locations and also iii) the start has been taken by various folks as either the exit from Llyn Tegid/Bala Lake or the headwaters near Dduallt - a difference of 18km / 11 miles. I decided to measure its length on online 1:25,000 scale OS mapping using a digital tool (wheresthepath)and determined it at 173km / 107.5 miles - I'd be confident of the accuracy of the figure to within 1%. This is hugely different from the 113km / 70 mile figure quoted. Note that I measured from the furthest reach of its headwaters at SH 8147 2769 (labelled as Afon Dyfrdwy within a mile of that spot) all the way down to the county limit in the Dee estuary at SJ 257736 - even allowing for the fact that EB1911 starts the Dee at Bala, that leaves a great deal of difference. It's about 32km from the NTL at the weir in Chester to the county limit. This is of course original research on my part so cannot be included in the article but it does at least give an idea of what a true figure should look like if and when an editor finds a suitable reference out there! cheers Geopersona (talk) 09:00, 9 December 2021 (UTC)


 * I agree. There is a source here which gives a reliable figure for the length of the stretch from the estuary to Farndon as 33 miles. Using old fashioned wheel measurer on an OS 1:25000 map then gives 18.8 miles to Overton, a further 16.6 miles to Llangollen, then 29.1miles to Bala sluices, 3.24 miles as the straight line length of Llyn Tegid plus 6.25 miles to the source - a total of 106.55 which is within your 1% error band. I also agree that this is OR and not directly useable, but the supposed reliable source is patently wrong.


 * The other issue is where the measurement starts. The Inland Waterways measure starts at the White Sands marker buoy a little to the south-east of Fflint. However if the start is assumed to be Chester weir, then some 14.7 miles needs to be deducted. If the tidal limit is taken as Farndon, then that reduces the total length to 73.55 miles. Maybe this is the length the EB had in mind? If so, this is inconsistent with other rivers. For example the River Thames is measured to a point somewhat off Canvey Island where it is a substantial estuary with Isle of Grain on the other shore barely visible. If we took a similar view for the Dee, then the length would be measured out to Point of Ayr which is a further 10.8 miles from White Sands buoy. So..... if we were to adopt the same standard as for the Thames then the total length becomes 117.35 miles! I think that this article should state approximate lengths and note that the EB link is probably from Chester Weir to Llyn Tegid. No matter what the RS states, when that source if very clearly in error, the issue must be addressed. After all, I would regard 1:25000 OS maps as pretty reliable sources!  Velella  Velella Talk 22:14, 12 January 2022 (UTC)