Navigation suspended from Bowling to Lock 21 - Kelvin Aqueduct, Maryhill
The Kelvin Aqueduct is an outstanding piece of canal engineering. At the time of its construction, more than 230 years ago, it was Britain’s largest aqueduct and a prototype for many later structures built on Scotland’s canal network.
To this day, it continues to carry the Forth & Clyde Canal across the deep valley of the River Kelvin, allowing boats to pass over the river on their way between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde.
Like all historic infrastructure, the aqueduct requires ongoing maintenance to manage the effects of natural weathering, water leakage, and the self-seeding of vegetation within its masonry.
Project timeline and next steps
Navigation is now suspended from Bowling Harbour to Lock 21 until our investigation of the leakage is complete. We plan to reopen the canal to navigation on Wednesday 13th May.
A temporary ramp for moving plant equipment into the basin is now in place between locks 24 and 25. Ahead of full dewatering of a section of canal, we also have a responsibility to relocate any fish still there. Environmental contractor APEM was able to use the temporary ramp to access the basin to collect, record and relocate fish downstream of the aqueduct. Any frog spawn present within the aqueduct channel will also be gently moved to safe habitats outside of the working area, but still within the canal, as part of the next fish relocation.
We installed a temporary dam downstream of the aqueduct last week too, but due to heavy rain over the weekend and a prevailing wind from the west, the dam has not yet fully sealed. Once the dam is fully established, we can start to dewater and inspect the aqueduct trough.
The plan is to develop a solution to the leakage to be implemented next year. As a temporary measure we will introduce clay lining to the trough before allowing the water levels to come back up. It may be once the leakage paths are established that we decide that the clay liner is the best solution or that we implement a more substantial fix prior to reopening the canal.
Having revised our method for maintaining the feed of water to the canal to Bowling we have also removed the need for most of the towpath diversions. This means the active travel route that is popular for commuting and leisure can remain accessible.
Update for local residents: 26th March
Update for Local Residents: 26th March
While we dewater the canal and stabilise water levels, we are running pumps overnight. We are revising our temporary dam design and options for moving water downstream, and we are looking for opportunities to switch to a gravity feed later in the programme to reduce the need for pumps. Thank you for your patience with the works and the overnight pumping while we resolve this issue.
Update: 20th March 2026
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) made an initial visit to record and catalogue the assets exposed during dewatering. Further visits are planned by HES and our own Engineers, Consultants and Contactors are all keeping records of progress, structures and conditions
Update: 26th February
The first phase of the fish relocation, conducted by APEM, is now completed . Fish have been moved from here to other sections of the canal ahead of the full dewatering and engineering works.
Contact us
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at enquiries@scottishcanals.co.uk or on 0141 332 6936 (Monday to Thursday 8.30am-5pm, Friday 8.30am - 4.30pm).
Photo credits: © Copyright Richard Sutcliffe