£ 6m work on dam is ‘ crucial to prevent flooding’
RISING RAINFALL has been cited for “crucial” safety works to protect a beauty spot reservoir from ever breaking its dam to flood the Washburn Valley.
A popular path at Swinsty Reservoir, which serves the region’s water supply, was partially closed to the public this week as work began on a £ 6m safety project.
Citing a crisis in Whaley Bridge, where homes were evacuated after a Derbyshire dam nearly burst its banks, Yorkshire Water said it must take preventative action to ease any such risk.
Rising rain and global warming is putting pressure on the dam’s Victorian stonework, a spokeswoman said, as documents detail how work will serve to protect the lives of those living downstream as well as heritage assets.
“We are seeing increased rainfall, year on year, and problems with flooding,” said spokeswoman Shona England- Lees. “If we look back to the time of the Boxing Day floods a lot of reservoirs were spilling over their banks. There was so much rainfall our reservoirs couldn’t hold it all.
“If we don’t put in planned changes it could damage the embankment and cause the dam to break, flooding the Washburn Valley,” she added. “These are huge limestone blocks.
“When there is a big storm, some stones can pop open, because it is so forceful. The work will keep them enclosed.”
The reservoir, built with a 24m dam and described in planning documents as a “testament to Victorian civil engineering”, is to see its stonework reinforced to make it more resilient. Under the Reservoirs Act 1975, inspectors had assessed the work as “crucial”, warning there is potential for an erosion of spillway banks which could lead to landslips.
The spillway walls and cause
way bridge are to be raise, with ambitions for the work to be completed by summer 2022.
Yorkshire Water issued a call to be conscious of water use this summer, as reservoir levels dipped following a drop in rainfall and with more people suddenly at home. Increasingly, said Ms England- Lees, it was seeing such “extremes”, with hot summers followed by wet winters.
Last year, more than 1,500 people were evacuated from the Derbyshire town of Whaley Bridge, amid fears a dam wall would collapse after heavy rain.
Such an emergency put into context the importance of maintaining safety and preventative works, Ms England- Lees said.
“That is the exact situation we could face if we don’t do this work, to keep up and to constantly adapt to a changing environment,” she said. “We have to do the background work and look after them properly.”