Rservoirs, ponds and other artificial water bodies

[paul m]

I think most of us like lakes - for their own beauty and for the wildlife that lives in and on them.
Unfortunately in my area there are few natural lakes - certainly no large ones: the Dark Peak is a plateau and the White Peak is limestone so the water disappears below ground (the biggest lakes in Derbyshire are probably underground).

So we have to make do with reservoirs - rivers dammed up to provide water for drinking and industry. Some of our are quite large and spectacular but some of the older ones are quite photogenic:



Unfortunately, ones, such as this, on the sandstone are acidic and have little in the way of plant or animal life in them - but quite pretty - and there are curlews on the surrounding moors ....

[paul m]

Carsington Water in contrast has a limestone catchment very rare for this area with the water much more nutritious and supporting fish and birds.


Built in the 1990s interests of wildlife and recreation were considered from the earliest planning stages: 70,000 trees were planted, islands created (as above), areas for boating and fishing strictly segregated from the major wildlife areas.

Common geese and ducks are not to abundant and there are many waterbirds such as greater crested grebe and several rarities. Raptors occasionally turn up including osprey ...

Mind, their coffee is lousy ....

[goosey]

Originally Posted by paul m

I think most of us like lakes - for their own beauty and for the wildlife that lives in and on them.
Unfortunately in my area there are few natural lakes - certainly no large ones: the Dark Peak is a plateau and the White Peak is limestone so the water disappears below ground (the biggest lakes in Derbyshire are probably underground).

That's an interesting thought - the largest lakes being underground!


Some of the "Lakes" in the Lake District are actually resevoirs. They look so beautiful and natural.
This is Thirlmere in 2006 - look how low the water level was that hot summer, by the time we got there the heat wave was over - guess what - it rained .



Originally there were two smaller lakes - Leathes Water and Wythburn Water here. Because of the growth of of Manchester during the 19th century, there was naturally an increased demand for water. The water-level was raised by construction of a dam by the Manchester Corporation at the northern end of Thirlmere, in 1890–1894. The reservoir was then able to supply water to Manchester via the Thirlmere Aqueduct, roughly 100 miles long. In the process, the settlements of Armboth and Wythburn were submerged, the only remaining building being the little church at Wythburn.
Thirlmere is 3.5 miles long, 1.2 mile wide and 158 feet deep. It is still a resevoir.
Here is a link to a post regarding replacing pines with native trees around Thirlmere - post 3.Christmas trees

[goosey]

Haweswater is another beauty - also in the Lake District 2007

Originally Haweswater was a natural lake about 4km long before it was turned into a resevoir in 1935. Another sad tale of all the farms and dwellings of Mardale Green and Measand villages being demolished as well as the centuries-old Dun Bull Inn at Mardale Green. The village church was dismantled and the stone used in constructing the dam. The area was then flooded. The building of the dam raised the water level by 29 metres (95 feet) and created a reservoir six kilometres (four miles) long and around 600 metres (almost half a mile) wide. When the water level is low the remains can still be seen.

[paul m]

Thanks - didn't appreciate that some of the Lakes are really reservoirs. Our largest one is the Derwent reservoir (actually, since there are three dams, it's the Ladybower-Derwent-Howden reservoirs):



This is where they tested the bouncing bombs used in WWII.
There are two villages underneath and they didn't bother to move the church ...

Quite fond of this reservoir because it's where one of our boys learned to cycle - you can hire bikes and take various tracks around the reservoirs - from 5 to 12 miles.

Originally Posted by goosey

Haweswater is another beauty - also in the Lake District 2007

Originally Haweswater was a natural lake about 4km long before it was turned into a resevoir in 1935. Another sad tale of all the farms and dwellings of Mardale Green and Measand villages being demolished as well as the centuries-old Dun Bull Inn at Mardale Green. The village church was dismantled and the stone used in constructing the dam. The area was then flooded. The building of the dam raised the water level by 29 metres (95 feet) and created a reservoir six kilometres (four miles) long and around 600 metres (almost half a mile) wide. When the water level is low the remains can still be seen.

[goosey]

I see that on this day 11th March 1864 The Bradford Reservoir near Sheffield (UK) bursts its banks killing 250 people. I wonder if they were haveing the same sort of wild weather conditions then as Britain (and Holland ) is having now?

[paul m]

No, it was sheer incompetence on the part of the engineers and builders .... nothing changes

We nearly had something similar last year when the old Ulley reservoir between Sheffield and Rotherham came under severe strain:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...dy_1917484.pdf

I suppose we should expect more such events in the future?

Originally Posted by goosey

I see that on this day 11th March 1864 The Bradford Reservoir near Sheffield (UK) bursts its banks killing 250 people. I wonder if they were haveing the same sort of wild weather conditions then as Britain (and Holland ) is having now?

PS: I should say that South Yorks and the north Midlands seems to be the exception to the rule - lovely warm,still, sunny day with just the occasional light shower ....