Civil engineering |
Future fears
The UK is now in a situation where there are genuine fears that it will lack a sufficient number of qualified reservoir engineers to carry out vital safety and inspection roles. A review is currently underway to ensure that this risk is averted
“WE HAVE A STRONG record of reservoir safety, and compliance with our safety regulations is good,” George Eustice, Former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said in July 2022. “We cannot however be complacent,” he warned. “The number of reservoirs in England is growing by an average of 15-20 per year, adding resource pressures for already stretched panels of engineers. Reservoir assets are ageing, which increases risks where investment is limited. In addition, the more extreme periods of drier and wetter weather expected as a result of climate change, will place increasing stresses on reservoir infrastructure.” Following partial collapse of the spillway at
Above: Toddbrook reservoir in England photographed before failure of the spillway in 2019 Credit: leslie Eckersley /
Shutterstock.com
Toddbrook Reservoir in 2019, Professor David Balmforth conducted an independent review to see if reservoir regulations offered enough protection for the more than two million households and properties that could be impacted by failure of such critical infrastructure in England. Common examples of poor practice were identified and various recommendations were made. These were accepted by the government
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that said there was “a strong case for improving safety practice, strengthening roles and responsibilities for owners, engineers, and the regulator, and for modernising the legal framework”. One of the improvements underway includes
development of proposals to ensure the future supply of reservoir engineers is more sustainable. At the request of the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Professor Lord Robert Mair agreed to chair a review into the future supply of reservoir panel engineers that is being carried out by the Institution of Civil Engineers. “The UK is now in a situation where there are genuine fears that we will lack sufficient qualified engineers to carry out these vital roles,” Mair said. “The goal of this review is to ensure that this risk is averted.” Concern centres around the declining number of engineers that have been appointed to two key reservoir safety panels during recent years. In addition, there has also been an increased demand for the services of engineers in response to changes introduced in the wake of the Toddbrook incident.
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