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Reservoir Safety

In fulfillment of a commitment made in response to the Pitt Review, The Government has completed inundation (flood) mapping of every reservoir under the Reservoirs Act, in England and Wales. 

Reservoirs Act 1975: Appointment of Panel Engineers

The Reservoirs Act 1975 requires reservoir undertakers to appoint specialist engineers from a series of panels. Appointments to panels are made by the Secretary of State after consultation with the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Engineers wanting to apply to any of the panels should email their application form to reservoirfm@defra.gsi.gov.uk. Please see

In order for us to process the application, applicants should send a cheque for £385 made payable to ‘Defra’ to:

Kilie Mpopo
Defra
2nd Floor Ergon House
Horseferry Road
London
SW1A 2AL

Once an appointment has been made, panel engineers should note that if they wish to apply for reappointment, their applications should be made in good time.  We suggest appointees put a note in their diaries at least eight months before their appointment is due to expire.  Reminders will not be sent out.

A description of the panels and the current list of appointed panel engineers can be found on the Environment Agency’s reservoir safety pages.

Research

The parties involved in reservoir safety - reservoir owners, specialist engineers, and local authorities with enforcement duties - all have a need for an authoritative and developing source of information and advice on reservoir safety. Defra (and its predecessors), along with other interested parties, sponsors research to contribute to this process. Work is underway to make all relevant research available on the Environment Agency's website. In the meantime please contact us if you wish to obtain any of the reports listed below:

  • Post-incident reporting system for UK dams February 2007
  • Engineering guide to emergency planning for UK reservoirs June 2006
  • Interim Guide to Quantitative Risk Assessment for UK reservoirs May 2006
  • Floods and Reservoir Safety (FEH/FSR) - Revised Guidance for Panel Engineers June 2004
  • Early detection of internal erosion - feasibility report November 2003
  • Vulnerability of UK dam embankments to increased direct rainfall on their surfaces January 2003
  • Climate change impacts on the safety of British reservoirs January 2002
  • Sedimentation in storage reservoirs February 2001

Page last modified: 05 January 2010
Page published: 23 June 2008