Supporting reservoir work: Delivering sustainable water resources

Looking after our reservoirs is an expensive, technically demanding and time-consuming activity, and requires a lot of skill and expertise. We have 72 large, raised reservoirs that fall under the Reservoirs Act (1975).

Collaboration across the Trust's teams is really important. We each have particular specialisms that are essential to project success. The water management team bring experience in hydrological modelling and flood management, as well as the ability to complete hydraulic assessments to ensure that water can be efficiently moved through a system.

Day to day

The water management team also have excellent relationships with colleagues in other organisations, notably the Environment Agency, given their responsibility for regulating abstractions to, and discharges from, our network.

We keep a lot of expertise in-house, although consultants are used for some work given that the capacity of our own team is limited. Having this skills-set enables us to effectively define a brief and review the work of consultants.

The Toddbrook Reservoir incident in August 2019 raised the profile of our reservoir work. And although it gave us lots to do, the work was both challenging and rewarding, given the variation it provides and the specialist input required.