An article in last week's Whitehaven News reports that this reservoir is no longer required as the local community has been served from the Haweswater reservoir since 2005. The weir dam is to be dismantled 'as early as 2014' and the tarn returned to its natural state. The water level will be about two metres lower than at present and it will be about three quarters its current size.
Cost estimated at £700k - keep on eye on your water charges!
United Utilities are working with other agencies to protect the wildlife, including the indigenous brown trout and eel populations.
You may not all be aware that the eel's breeding migration is the converse of that of the salmon, which grows to maturity in the open sea, and then swims upstream to spawn in the gravel beds where they themselves originally hatched. Whereas the eel matures in fresh water and then travels to the sea (supposedly all the way to the Sargasso) where it spawns and from whence the elvers travel back to their parents' home river to grow to maturity. Removal of the dam is expected enable the youngsters to complete their journey all the way back to the tarn.
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Hayeswater is responsible for one of my very few moments of athletic glory. Crossing the stream just below the dam in the Ian Hodgson Mountain relay of 1991, Bill hallahan and I were photographed and ended up on the front cover of the Fellrunner!
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