Second part of review examines the effectiveness of current legislation based on the safety and regulation of reservoirs
Proposals to improve the approach for reservoir inspections, ensure reservoir owners are more proactive in ensuring safety and give the Environment Agency more regulatory powers have been welcomed by the Government today (Thursday 13 May 2021), following the completion of an independent review of reservoir safety by Professor David Balmforth.
England already has some of the toughest reservoir regulations in the world and the review acknowledges the ‘well-established’ regime to manage their safety. Professor Balmforth’s recommendations encourage government, the regulator and reservoir owners to further build on this strong record.
The recommendations include:
The Government has welcomed the review’s recommendations, and will now work with the Environment Agency and industry to explore them further.
In addition, a Ministerial Direction has been issued to owners of all large raised reservoirs, making it a legal requirement for them to prepare on-site emergency flood plans. This will ensure that those responsible are prepared and ready to mitigate in the unlikely event of an emerging or actual emergency that could result in an uncontrolled release of water.
Floods Minister Rebecca Pow said:
Professor David Balmforth said:
Caroline Douglass, Environment Agency Executive Director for Flood and Coastal Risk Management, said:
Richard Coackley, Chair of the ICE Reservoirs Committee, said:
The second part of the reservoir was commissioned by the Secretary of State in June 2020 to examine the effectiveness of current legislation based on the safety and regulation of reservoirs. It follows the first part of the review, which was published in March 2020, and focused on the incident at Toddbrook Reservoir in August 2019.
The 22 recommendations set out in Professor Balmforth’s initial report are being implemented.