The Environment Agency says that the launch of the joint England and Wales public consultation on proposed reforms to reservoir safety is now planned for later in 2026 – the EA is seeking to ensure the work aligns with the recently published Water White Paper and wider government priorities.
Photo:Toddbrook Reservoir damaged spillway June 2020
The Agency is currently reviewing the reservoir reform proposals to ensure they align with the wider work on water regulation, support growth and avoid disproportionate increases in water bills or costs to farmers.
While England and Wales have an excellent reservoir safety record, the EA says there are now several reasons to re-evaluate how it regulates reservoir safety, including:
- the Toddbrook incident and the Independent Reservoir Safety Review
- climate change - which is increasing the pressures on reservoir infrastructure and demand for reservoirs and water resources
- the need to update the Reservoirs Act 1975 to a more, proportionate flexible regime – this is in line with safety management practices in other sectors and countries
- concerns about the limited numbers of reservoir engineers and the increasing demand for specialist engineers in future
The UK and Welsh Governments launched the Reservoir Safety Reform Programme to modernise and strengthen reservoir regulation across England and Wales. This was based on recommendations from the Independent Reservoir Safety Review Report published in March 2021 following the Toddbrook reservoir incident in 2019. Although Toddbrook met legal standards, it was not safe.
The programme is being delivered in phases over several years by the Environment Agency, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales (NRW). It will introduce a more proportionate and flexible regime of reservoir safety, using updated guidance and new legislation when parliamentary time allows.
Reservoir safety ensures the physical structure of a reservoir - its dams and embankments - are safe. Incidents like Toddbrook, rising water demand and climate change - highlight the need to reassess reservoir safety regulations - especially with around 2.6 million people in England at risk from potential dam failures and life-threatening floods.
The Agency is continuing to work with the High-Level Engagement Group, Major Reservoir Owners Group, Single Reservoir Owners Group and Panel Engineers Committee.
Over the next few months the EA says there will be opportunities to engage in ongoing work on hazard classification, engineer reforms and safety management practices.
The Agency will be in touch with industry representatives for this to happena and will provide further updates in due course.
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