A ministerial direction to undertakers in relation to reservoir on-site flood plans for large raised reservoirs in England was published on 22nd April 2021.

Following the publication of the direction the BDS held an evening meeting on Monday 26th April 2021 titled “Emergency Planning for Reservoirs”. The first part of this meeting heard from Jan Kiernan (Defra) and Tony Deakin (Environment Agency) who explained the new requirements and what is now needed from owners and engineers. A recording of this meeting can be found in the ‘Listen Again’ page of the BDS website.

Following the meeting the BDS compiled a list of 41 questions taken from the evening meeting and those submitted by the membership afterwards. A written response from Defra / Environment Agency was received last week and is now available to download here. 

If you need to refer to the ministerial direction or associated guidance document then please find the links below:

Guidance documents: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reservoir-emergencies-on-site-plan

Ministerial Direction – requirement for reservoir on-site emergency flood plans: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reservoir-on-site-flood-plans-ministerial-direction