Reservoir Safety Reform Programme

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 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.

Get Involved

Please register with Engagement HQ to interact with the tools we’ll be hosting here.

You can also subscribe to follow the project and to be added to our mailing list for important updates.

On the right-hand side of this page we have the following:

• Important Consultation Information - to help you take part in the consultation when it goes live and to support your understanding of the proposed reservoir safety reform changes. We will post the consultation date and link on this page as soon as they are confirmed.
• Useful Information - to help you stay informed on key information on reservoir safety and reform, current legislation and reform initiatives.