Plans for Hayeswater
Today we took time to visit United Utilities' exhibition at Glenridding Public Hall where they where explaining their plans for Hayeswater. After more than 100 years of public service this tiny Lakeland reservoir is now going to be restored to the natural mountain tarn it once was.
Hayeswater, near Hartsop, was dammed in 1908 to provide drinking water to communities around Ullswater but it was declared surplus to requirements in 2005 when bigger and better sources of water became available and now engineers plan to give it
it back to nature as the dam is starting to crumble and, in addition, as as it's still a designated reservoir United Utilities staff have to visit it daily.
They now plan to dismantle the stone and concrete weir dam, which could happen as soon as next summer or autumn. It's not yet been decided whether to remove the spoil or re-use it locally to improve paths.
Also being removed as part of the plan is the footbridge just below the dam which is widely used by walkers. We asked United Utilities about this and walkers have not been forgotten. The official right of way is the bridleway a few hundred metres to the north west (although this is all access land of course) where there is currently a ford. The plan is to build a new footbridge over Hayeswater Gill at that location.
Once the dam has gone Hayeswater will drop in level by about two metres and its footprint will be about two thirds to three quarters of the previous size.
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