A £6m investment in increased safety measures at a Northumberland reservoir will help protect against flooding in emergencies.
Northumbrian Water has carried out work that means water can be safely released from West Hallington Reservoir more quickly when needed, protecting the local community from the risk of flooding.
The work has added resilience to the dam itself and seen the installation of a siphon system to increase the drawdown capacity.
Work started in January 2023 and has been carried out by a project team from Northumbrian Water’s partners, Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB), who have experience in delivering similar projects elsewhere in the country.
While teams will return to complete landscaping works later in the year, when conditions are more favourable, the engineering element of the project has been completed and the successfully tested.
The project has been shortlisted in the “Medium” category of the Institution of Civil Engineers North East’s Robert Stephenson Awards.
Glyn Jenkins, Project Manager at Northumbrian Water, said: “Our reservoirs and dams are regularly inspected for safety by our own people and by independent experts, because it is important to ensure they are maintained and safe. This investment has added an additional layer of safety at West Hallington, with experienced expert engineers delivering an enhanced drawdown system that increases our ability to respond when needed.
“The work has required areas of the dam that were open to the public to be closed, but these will be re-opened shortly, and we look forward to being able to complete the reinstatement work in the coming months.”