Low level

[Dav and Pen]

Had a walk at Boddington Reservoir this afternoon very low considering the rain we’ve had recently. Maybe CRT have run it down.

[MtB]

6 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

Had a walk at Boddington Reservoir this afternoon very low considering the rain we’ve had recently. Maybe CRT have run it down.

 

 

I don't think so. Well at least not deliberately emptied it - as opposed to used it all keeping the Oxford in water for navigation.

 

We've had months of drought and a few days of intermittent heavy rain are not going to refill our reservoirs and aquifers. For that I'd suggest we need a whole winter of above average rainfall.

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by MtB
Fiddle with it...

[dmr]

We are currently in the Calder Valley (Yorkshire). We have had some right proper rain over the last couple of weeks, they do proper rain here, but the local resevoirs, of which there are many, are still looking very very low.

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, dmr said:

We are currently in the Calder Valley (Yorkshire). We have had some right proper rain over the last couple of weeks, they do proper rain here, but the local resevoirs, of which there are many, are still looking very very low.

 

 

Which prompts another question I've had in my head since I was a child. Do reservoirs fill up only with rain that falls within their perimeter? Or do the water authorities pump it up from aquifers too and into the reservoirs for storage? 

 

On reflection I guess it's a mixture. I imagine reservoirs work like batteries. Filled up from rainfall AND aquifer lift pumps if nearby. When aquifers run dry then the reservoirs follow suit but with a delay. Reservoirs are for smoothing out demand....

[dmr]

Most resevoirs are built by damming a river/stream so this will be a big source of water, but they are very often surrounded by hills so the run off from these will also be a water source. Some canal resevoirs appear to be built on flatter ground so I am not sure where they get the water from. In your neck of the woods, I have been told that Wilton Water is fed mostly from sewage but I don't think thats true.

I doubt that much pumping is done because that would give a big 'leccy bill.

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, dmr said:

Most resevoirs are built by damming a river/stream so this will be a big source of water, but they are very often surrounded by hills so the run off from these will also be a water source. Some canal resevoirs appear to be built on flatter ground so I am not sure where they get the water from. In your neck of the woods, I have been told that Wilton Water is fed mostly from sewage but I don't think thats true.

I doubt that much pumping is done because that would give a big 'leccy bill.

Wendover they move it around 

[David Mack]

Most reservoirs are filled by the rivers and streams that were dammed to form them, together with surface runoff from he slopes above. But round here that catchment is often extended by catchwater drains that run along the contour, and intercept surface runoff and small streams over a wider area, as in the example below. You can see that the labelled catchwater drain intercepts surface water that would otherwise have run down towards Dean Head Resrs and takes it instead into Warley Moor Resr.

Here's a catchwater drain feeding Gorple Upper Reservoir.

Edited November 3, 2022 by David Mack

[dmr]

7 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Most reservoirs are filled by the rivers and streams that were dammed to form them, together with surface runoff from he slopes above. But round here that catchment is often extended by catchwater drains that run along the contour, and intercept surface runoff and small streams over a wider area, as in the example below. You can see that the labelled catchwater drain intercepts surface water that would otherwise have run down towards Dean Head Resrs and takes it instead into Warley Moor Resr.

Here's a catchwater drain feeding Gorple Upper Reservoir.

 

The resevoirs up above Warland and Todmoden (Rochdale Canal) are fascinating, all sorts of channels and sluices for moving water about, some very much decayed history but others still doing their job.

[David Mack]

Yes. Lots of examples to choose from round here.

[George and Dragon]

On 03/11/2022 at 21:18, dmr said:

We are currently in the Calder Valley (Yorkshire). We have had some right proper rain over the last couple of weeks, they do proper rain here, but the local resevoirs, of which there are many, are still looking very very low.

 

Yorkshire Water have announced that their reservoirs are now at 75% and yesterday lifted the hosepipe ban introduced in August.

[pearley]

Grafton reservoir whose intake is above St Neots is at 60% capacity despite the river Great Ouse going into Strong Stream (red) twice.