IN response to Neil Maher’s letter stating that dredging on the River Usk should be re-introduced, I say it would have little effect on the flooding of the river in the Newport/Caerleon areas and it is not the complete answer to Somerset’s recent problems.

The main issue is the high tides.

This means that no matter how deep the channels in the lower tidal reaches of the river, the tide will just fill the channels and prevent fresh water from escaping.

The only way to ensure non-flooding would be the building of a barrage across the estuary.

Not only might it provide electric generation, but as I understand it, the turbines could be reversed to pump out floodwater against the tide.

There has certainly been no flooding in the rivers Ely and Taff since the building of the Cardiff Bay barrage.

There was a time in the past when this used to happen with regularity.

A Bond Tramway Close Cwmbran