Reservoir’s water level is down by about 90%
AHUGE reservoir near Cheltenham is nearly empty but it is not to do with the drought that affected Gloucestershire and much of the UK in the summer. It is to do with maintenance being carried out by the Environment Agency.
The news may reassure residents from the Cheltenham area who have expressed their surprise and concern about the lack of water at the Dowdeswell Reservoir site.
Just over a mile away from Charlton Kings, and close to the village of Dowdeswell, it can be seen by anyone driving out of the town on the A40, heading towards Oxford.
But the 136-year-old reservoir no longer supplies much water to the town and surrounding areas as it did in the past. Instead, it is used by the agency, which has owned and maintained it since the late 1990s, as a flood storage area. The reservoir stores water from the River Chelt during times of high rainfall and it is for environmental purposes only.
An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: “On testing the Dowdeswell Flood Storage Reservoir’s operational maintenance in September, we identified a fault with one of the valves. Since then, we have performed a controlled drawdown of water levels to allow repair of the reservoir’s control structures and we are continuing to monitor for any impacts on the reservoir and the River Chelt.
“Once the maintenance work is completed, the reservoir will be allowed to naturally refill. This work could take some time.”
She added that the reservoir was already about half empty before the drawdown occurred and is probably now at about 10% capacity.
The reservoir is 820m long and 215m at its widest point. When full, it contains 125,000 cubic metres of water.
Cheltenham’s water is largely taken from the river at Tewkesbury, with it being treated at the town’s Mythe Water Treatment Works.