Kielder Water
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Kielder Water is a large man-made reservoir in
Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...
in
North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...
. It is the largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom by capacity of water and it is surrounded by
Kielder Forest Kielder Forest is a large forestry plantation in Northumberland, England, surrounding Kielder village and the Kielder Water reservoir. It is the largest man-made woodland in England with three-quarters of its covered by forest. The majority ...
, one of the biggest man-made woodlands in Europe. The scheme was planned in the late 1960s to satisfy an expected rise in demand for water to support a booming UK industrial economy. Kielder Water is owned by
Northumbrian Water Northumbrian Water Limited is a water company in the United Kingdom, providing mains water and sewerage services in the English counties of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham and parts of North Yorkshire, and also supplying water as Essex and ...
, and holds 200 billion litres (44 billion gallons, or 0.2 cubic km), making it the largest artificial reservoir in the UK by capacity (
Rutland Water Rutland Water is a reservoir in Rutland, England, east of Rutland's county town, Oakham. It is filled by pumping from the River Nene and River Welland, and provides water to the East Midlands. By surface area it is the largest reservoir in En ...
is the largest by surface area). It has a shoreline, is from the sea. and has a maximum depth of 52 metres (170ft).


Etymology

The name ''Kielder'' was first recorded in 1309 as ''Keldre''. Originating as a river name, ''Kielder'' may have the same origin as the various rivers named ''Calder'', such as the one in West Yorkshire. The name may be derived from the
Brittonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...
''caleto-/ā'', with the root sense of "hard" (
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
''caled''), suffixed with ''-duβr'' meaning "water" (Welsh ''dwr''). Derivation from the Gaelic ''caol dobhar'' meaning "narrow stream" has also been suggested.


Construction

After the scheme was approved by Parliament in 1974, work to build the reservoir and the dam at the hamlet of Yarrow in the Kielder Valley began in 1975. The reservoir and dam were designed for Northumbrian Water by consulting civil engineers
Babtie, Shaw and Morton Babtie, Shaw and Morton was a firm of civil engineers based in Glasgow, Scotland, and noted for its work on bridges, dams and reservoirs. History It took its name following the 1906 merger of Babtie & Bonn (a partnership founded by John Babtie ...
. Sir Frederick Gibberd and Partners were responsible for architectural aspects. Earth moving and infrastructure construction was undertaken in a joint venture with
AMEC Amec Foster Wheeler plc was a British multinational consultancy, engineering and project management company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. In October 2017, it was acquired by Wood Group. It was focused on the Oil, Gas & Chemicals, M ...
and
Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, Balfour Beatty works ac ...
. The design meant the loss of numerous farms and a school. About 95 people had been resident in the area prior to its development. The former permanent way of the Border Counties Railway was also taken away through the development of the reservoir. Work was completed in 1981.
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
officially opened the project the following year. The valley took a further two years to fill with water completely.


Hydroelectric plant

Kielder Water is also the site of England's largest
hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
plant. It was opened by
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
on 26 May 1982 and is owned by
Northumbrian Water Northumbrian Water Limited is a water company in the United Kingdom, providing mains water and sewerage services in the English counties of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham and parts of North Yorkshire, and also supplying water as Essex and ...
. In December 2005, RWE Npower Renewables bought the rights to operate the plant and sell the electricity generated by it, with a contract lasting until 2025. Following the takeover, the turbines were refurbished in 2005–2006, which increased the efficiency of the electricity generation. Controls were also updated, so that the plant can be operated from
Dolgarrog Dolgarrog is a village and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales, situated between Llanrwst and Conwy, very close to the Conwy River. The village is well known for its industrial history since the 18th century a ...
in Wales. The plant generates electricity using dual turbines which produce 6
megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...
s of electricity. This comes from a combination of a 5.5 MW
Kaplan turbine The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to ach ...
, which generates electricity when water release takes place, and a 500 kW
Francis turbine The Francis turbine is a type of water turbine. It is an inward-flow reaction turbine that combines radial and axial flow concepts. Francis turbines are the most common water turbine in use today, and can achieve over 95% efficiency. The proces ...
that generates constantly from the compensation flow of water from the reservoir into the
North Tyne North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...
. This gives the reservoir an average production of 20,000  MWh of electricity per year, a saving of 8,500 tonnes of
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
per year compared to fossil fuel based methods of generation.


Operations

The reservoir's main use is to provide compensating discharges into the
River North Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wat ...
to support abstractions of water further downstream. It also underpins the £167m Kielder Transfer Scheme, where water can be transferred to the
Wear Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology. Wear in m ...
and the Tees rivers, to meet shortfalls in those areas. In recent years, Kielder Water has become increasingly important, with underground springs ensuring that it always remains at high levels, regardless of the prevailing climate condition. This means that while the south of England is often forced to implement drought strategies and hosepipe bans, north-east England enjoys plentiful water supplies. There are two main visitor centres at Kielder Water – Leaplish waterside park and Tower Knowe visitor centre – and other facilities at
Kielder Kielder is a small, remote village in western Northumberland, England. Located at the head of Kielder Water and in the north west of Kielder Forest, the village is within of the Scottish border. History There was early settlement around Kielde ...
,
Falstone Falstone is a small village in Northumberland, England, just east of Kielder Water. The village is from the Anglo–Scottish border. The name ''Falstone'' means "speckled stone". Much of the village is clustered around its two churches, St. P ...
and Stannersburn villages. It is also one of the region's major tourist venues, attracting more than 250,000 visitors a year who come to enjoy the facilities.


Notes


Citations


References

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External links


Kielder Water Sailing ClubFishing on Kielder Water
{{authority control Drinking water reservoirs in England Reservoirs in Northumberland Hydroelectric power stations in England Buildings and structures in Northumberland Power stations in North East England River regulation in England RKielder