Safety work needed on reservoirs
TWELVE stretches of water in Wales that are classified as reservoirs failed to have safety work carried out within a timescale set by the regulator, a newly-published report has revealed.
Two of the sites concerned are especially well-known – Roath Park Lake in Cardiff and the inner moat of Caerphilly Castle.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) had ordered essential remedial work to be carried out, but it hadn’t been undertaken by the end of March 2021 and in most cases remains outstanding.
Failing to carry out work ordered by the regulator is an offence under the Reservoirs Act. While NRW is not suggesting the sites pose an immediate danger to life, it says the required work needs to be completed swiftly.
The reservoirs where work had not been completed by the end of March are:
■ Barlwyd Isaf, Gwynedd – completion expected 2021;
■ Caerphilly Castle Inner Moat – under investigation;
■ Cwm Clydach, Neath Port Talbot – inspection carried out;
■ Gwastad Mawr Flood Storage Area, Newport – under investigation;
■ Llyn Cae Conroy Upper, Powys – work under way;
■ Llyn Crafnant, Gwynedd – under investigation;
■ Llyn Maen Bras, Gwynedd – resolved May 2021;
■ New Pool (location unspecified) – resolved April 2021;
■ Roath Park Lake, Cardiff – under investigation;
■ Upper Trebeddrod, Carmarthenshire – under investigation;
■ Waun Pond, Blaenau Gwent – completed June 2021; and
■ Waun-y-Pound Upper, Blaenau Gwent – under investigation.
The report states: “Most reservoir owners comply with the law, and compliance has remained steady compared with previous years. This also means there has been no improvement.
“There are reservoir owners who have failed to meet minimum standards and while it has been a difficult year with Covid restrictions, we do not think this has had a substantial negative effect. We are revising our regulatory approach to dig deeper into the root causes of non-compliance.
“Reservoir owners often balance multiple demands, and where there is a conflict for budget and resource, legal compliance is a strong driver in decision-making.
“The number of compliance issues regarding day-to-day monitoring and surveillance reported to us are relatively low compared to the overall volume of work carried out at reservoirs. However, we have identified this as an area where we can see improvements can be made.”
The report explains that during an inspection, the inspecting engineer may make a recommendation as to measures to be taken in the interests of safety, known as MITIOS. These recommendations are statutory requirements and the inspecting engineer prescribes a timescale within which the MITIOS must be completed.
Overall, there were 320 MITIOS required during the reporting period between April 2019 and March 2021. Just over half of these (168 or 53%) were for physical works to be undertaken.
These measures range in scale from minor repairs and clearance of vegetation, through to complete replacement of spillway structures, which may take several years to complete.
The report concludes: “We have reviewed all the MITIOS certified complete within the period. Almost half did not manage to complete within the timeframe prescribed.
“This is clearly inadequate with room for improvement by undertakers to act more swiftly and by us to regulate more effectively. We are not clear on the cause of the delays and this is something we seek to understand better.”