Stanford Reservoir is a

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

reservoir on the River Avon,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It lies on the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

boundary between

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

near the village of Stanford-on-Avon. The reservoir was built between 1928 and 1930 by Rugby Urban District Council in order to supply the nearby town of

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

with drinking water. It was created by building an earth and clay

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

across the line of the original river, and flooding a small valley between the villages of South Kilworth and Stanford. At its north-eastern extremity, the river enters the reservoir via a

settling pond A settling basin, settling pond or decant pond is an earthen or concrete structure using sedimentation to remove settleable matter and turbidity from wastewater. The basins are used to control water pollution in diverse industries such as agricul ...

and leaves at the other end via a

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

and a specially constructed channel below the dam. There is a by-pass channel along the northern perimeter, controlled by sluice gates, which allows the water level in the reservoir to be regulated and reduced for repair and maintenance works, and for the flow of water in the river below the dam to be maintained. The reservoir was enlarged between 1958 and 1959, and now covers an area of approximately . The average width of the reservoir is around and the overall length is approximately . Following a 1 in 100 year flood risk assessment, the spillway was substantially reconstructed in 2017. The reservoir is still used for its original role, but is now a top-up for the much larger

Draycote Water Draycote Water is a reservoir and country park near the village of Dunchurch, south of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, owned and operated by Severn Trent Water. It draws its water from the River Leam, and supplies drinking water to Rugby and ...

reservoir, some to the south-west which was created in the 1960s. It is now owned by the company

Severn Trent Water Severn Trent plc is a water company based in Coventry, England. It supplies 4.6 million households and business across the Midlands and Wales. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Severn Trent, the ...

. The site is considered important for bird species including

tufted duck The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...

wigeon The wigeons or widgeons are a group of birds, dabbling ducks currently classified in the genus ''Mareca'' along with two other species. There are three extant species of wigeon, in addition to one recently extinct species. Biology There are ...

pochard Pochard is a common name used for several species of diving ducks: *Four species in the genus ''Aythya'': ** Common pochard, ''Aythya ferina'' ** Baer's pochard, ''Aythya baeri'' ** Ferruginous pochard, ''Aythya nyroca'' ** Madagascar pochard, '' ...

and

shoveller The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Anas c ...

and five species of bats. The

Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN) is a registered charity which manages 126 nature reserves covering . It has over 35,000 members, and 95% of people in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshi ...

have a management agreement to look after wildlife aspects. The reservoir is open to public visits, but requires a permit.

References

External links

Northamptonshire Nature Reserves
{{authority control Drinking water reservoirs in England Reservoirs in Leicestershire Reservoirs in Northamptonshire RStanford