Eye Brook Reservoir - Rutland
I've always had a curiosity of reservoir overflows ever since first looking down my local plughole as a child thinking it was a bottomless pit to god knows where. I soon learnt the less exciting truth behind their purpose which was to generally maintain safe water levels of the reservoir.
Overflow spillways are common amongst reservoirs and the majority of them look the same, a large concrete funnel taking in water and diverting it below, the only real difference I've seen in the ones i've explored is the direction the outfall tunnel heads in.
Heading out on a long midweek drive east, we had a rough idea of where we were heading and how to get there. We were surprised to find however that the land surrounding the reservoir is all private and looked after by a local fishery who don't take too kindly to the public wandering around there land.
A lack of research meant we had to find alternative parking and approach it more stealthy under the cover of darkness as none of us wanted to get seen and mistaken for poachers. Annoyingly, I was looking forward to seeing this place in the daytime and wanted to fly the drone around the top. With it now pouring down with rain and pitch black as we made our trek upto the reservoir that idea seemed unlikely.
As we got to the outfall I set off an alarm hidden in some trees and it shouted a very generic security message stating something about ‘private property' and ‘the police are on their way’, we decided that amazon's cheapest security device wouldnt deter us and pushed on anyway.
The walls surrounding the outfall were over 12 ft tall and made of stone brick and the whole overflow is a mammoth concrete structure. Its design was a lot different to ones I had seen in the past, having more of an oval shape with large vents on the top. There's also a regulating valve leading directly into the spillway from above to disperse water as and when required, you wouldn't want to be in front of it when it opens that's for sure.
After around half an hour photographing the place we decided to brave the rain once more and head back to the car. On our way back we could see blue lights flashing which looked to be scanning the perimeter, with head torches turned to red mode we watched as they drove past our car on the long straight road at a creeping pace before carrying on. We decided this was a good time to get in and quickly drive away before they came back to investigate further.
History
“Eye Brook Reservoir located in the East Midlands was created in the 1930's by damming the local brook to supply water to a nearby steelworks. Like with others, the construction of the reservoir led to the relocation of the small community which was submerged as a result. During WW2 the reservoir played a role in the practice runs for operation 'Chastise', the famous ''Dam busters'' raid. Specifically the RAF commandeered the reservoir to test and practice low flying altitude techniques required for the raid on German dams. The reservoir features a spillway or overflow system that helps regulate water levels, preventing the dam from being over topped during periods of heavy rainfall. This overflow ensures the safe release of excess water into downstream rivers and brooks.”
