The main photo shows the reservoir on World Photography Day, and the first PiP is of the reservoir in February 2014. It's possible to see that today's water levels are significantly lower following a long period of drought and unprecedented high temperatures in July and August, despite significant rainfall here at the beginning of the week. The other 2 PiPs show the Afon Clywedog, taken on August 19, which feeds the reservoir and lies to the west.
The dam is to regulate the flow in the River Severn to mitigate flooding and provide support for drinking water abstractions for the West Midlands. It was completed in 1967 and is situated near the B4518 road north of Llanidloes, Powys. It does this by releasing water into the river channel during low flow periods and re-filling during the wetter winter months. This enables major water abstractions to be made from the River Severn to supply the West Midlands with 50 million litres of drinking water.
The concrete buttress dam is the tallest concrete dam in the UK, with a height of 72 metres (236 ft) and a length of 230 metres (750 ft). When at capacity the reservoir contains approximately 50,000 megalitres of water.
It took me a bit of time to find the photo of the dam from 2014 in my archives. I must try a better system.
21 comments
Trudy Tuinstra said:
Gillian Everett said:
Gudrun said:
People are wasting water as if there was no tomorrow and I have read that in the UK a lot of drinking water is lost through leaky pipes....
Colin Ashcroft said:
I did think of this as a subject but saw your discussion yesterday and changed my mind. Our local reservoirs in Longdendale are low but we have seen them lower. In the East (into South Yorkshire) there are some that are empty.
Jean-Paul said:
And a great story behind the pics. Thx for sharing!
Marta Wojtkowska said:
I see that the older one was taken in autumn, or maybe in late autumn.
Let's hope that by this autumn water levels will by appropriately high again.
Ulrich John said:
Nick Weall said:
Keith Burton said:
The difference between the water levels is quite staggering!
I like all these photos..........the image in the first PiP is my favourite as, ironically, I find the landscape very attractive.
Lovely shots of the Canada Geese and a well researched and written narrative too.
Amelia replied to Keith Burton:
Valfal said:
Happy World Photography Day, Amelia!
Rosalyn Hilborne said:
Good information and something we should all be worried about.
Annaig56 said:
Stephan Fey said:
Eric Desjours said: