Reservoir Engineeering in the News

Few people will not have heard about the drama that played out during the first week of August in the Derbyshire village of Whaley Bridge when residents were evacuated for fear that the nearby Toddbrook reservoir dam might fail and their homes be engulfed with water.

Torrential rain had caused the water level of the reservoir to rise, resulting in an overflow which caused a section of the concrete spillway to collapse. Over the course of a week engineers worked around the clock with the RAF, the Royal Engineers and Emergency Services in a two-pronged approach to lower the water level of the reservoir and shore up the gaping hole in the concrete apron with bags of aggregate. The TV pictures showing the RAF Chinook helicopter painstakingly dropping these bags in exactly the right spots, to be later grouted in place, will live long in the memory. Reading New Civil Engineer magazine, I learnt that a 50 metre road to the reservoir had to be built, along with a footbridge over pumping equipment and a temporary headquarters for the operation, whilst 23 high volume pumps  removed approximately 950,000 cubic metres of water from the reservoir – that’s 75% of its usual volume.

Following the Reservoirs Act of 1975, there are stringent requirements for the construction of dams – and their inspection and management thereafter, by specialist civil engineers with specific expertise and experience in this field. Any recommendations for safety and maintenance they make must be complied with and certified. This is yet another branch of civil engineering which we may never come across or think about until it hits the news in such dramatic fashion.