County Durham’s Hury Reservoir is to benefit from a £15m maintenance and safety project that also has ecological protection as a priority.
Northumbrian Water is carrying out the work over the next three years, increasing the capacity of the dam’s spillway and adding a new syphon system.
This will enable the company to reduce water levels more swiftly if required, in line with new Reservoirs Act requirements and making the site even safer.
The project, being carried out by Northumbrian Water’s partner, Esh-Stantec, will start on site, following extensive work to ensure the area’s ecology and species of flora and fauna is protected.
Surveys showed more than 30 species of fungi, including wax cap mushrooms in the area close to the dam, making Hury internationally significant for fungi. Working with fungi specialist, mycologist Sally Pattison, the company’s Ecology and Capital Delivery project teams devised a plan to protect the species. Expert guidance has also been sought from specialists from Aberystwyth University, while an Ecological Clerk of Works will be closely involved throughout the project.
This included reducing the working area, and relocate sections of the fungi-rich grassland, complete with mushrooms, to a safe distance. Fencing has also been added to the plans, ensuring vehicle movements are kept away from the mushrooms, while the programme of work also enables the site’s otter population to continue to use their natural routes across the spillway.
Work at the site is expected to take place from June until November 2026, returning from April 20 November in each of 2027 and 2028, to ensure best progress and protect water resource. The work will, at times, require the lowering of water levels in the reservoir, with angling suspended at those times. While a public right of way running through the site will be maintained, there will be a closure on the dam crest.
Northumbrian Water’s Project Manager, Mike Foster, said: “This is an important investment at Hury, as we look to maintain our reservoirs and enhance their safety. But we are also very mindful of protecting flora and fauna around our sites when carrying out work such as this. So, we have worked closely with our Ecology team and external specialists, to plan the project in a way that ensures the site’s array of waxcap mushrooms, and our resident otters and birds, are protected.”