Within the current navigation is a 1 ½ mile stretch of canal where it is shared with three streams that flow down the Stroud Valleys and feed into the canal. These streams then leave the canal at Ebley new confluence weir. This section starts where the Slad Brook joins the canal just by the Stroud new Brewery Bridge at Wallbridge and finishes just before Ebley Mills, where there is a new weir that diverts the river flows into the Frome River. This ‘river section’ constitutes a river under the terms of the Environment Agency (EA) and as such SVCC must follows the rules and guidelines imposed by the EA.
One of the key restrictions that SVCC needs to strictly obey are those concerning fish spawning. All three streams that share the canal are potential fish spawning areas and such are strictly protected. SVCC has installed sophisticated and modern fish by-passes at Ebley new weir, at Dudbridge Lower and Upper Lock and at Walbridge Lower Lock. Additionally, SVCC cannot carry out any construction or dredging work on the canal during the fish spawning season that runs from 1st October to the 30th April each year.