Rivelin Dams are a pair of water storage reservoirs situated in the upper part of the

Rivelin Valley The River Rivelin is a river in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It rises on the Hallam moors, in north west Sheffield, and joins the River Loxley (at Malin Bridge). The Rivelin Valley, through which the river flows, is a long woodland vall ...

, west of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England. The dams are owned by

Yorkshire Water Yorkshire Water is a British water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company ...

and provide water to 319,000 peopleTrenchless International.com.
319,000 people supplied by Rivelin system. as well as compensation water for the River Rivelin. They are named Upper and Lower and fall just within the eastern boundary of the

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

Description

The Lower reservoir is the larger of the two and has easier public access with a tarmac road giving vehicular access to a small car park at the southern end of the dam wall. Access to the Upper reservoir and the woodland around it is by permit, there is a track with a locked gate which gives access for water board vehicles from the

A57 road The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln, England, Lincoln via Warrington, Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford and Manchester, and then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass (between the high moorlands of ...

. The Lower reservoir has a capacity of , with a surface area of , the dam height is and its length is approximately . The Upper reservoir has a capacity of , with a surface area of , the dam height is with an approximate length of 220 metres. Both the dam walls are faced with stone pitching in the upstream direction and have grass banking in the downstream direction. In 2005 the dam wall of the Lower reservoir underwent strengthening work undertaken by the firm Hesselberg Hydro who used open stone

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

to face the upstream embankment.Hesselberg Hydro.
Gives details of 2005 dam strengthening. The two reservoirs are fed by streams which drain the Hallam Moors which lie to the immediate west and stretch up to

Stanage Edge Stanage Edge, or simply Stanage (from "stone edge") is a gritstone escarpment in the Peak District, England, famous as a location for climbing. It lies a couple of miles to the north of Hathersage, and the northern part of the edge forms the b ...

. The reservoirs have a

catchment area A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

of which has an annual average rainfall of . A former reservoir keeper's house stands at the northern end of the Lower reservoir's dam wall; this is now a private dwelling.Peak District View.
Gives some data on reservoirs.

History

Water provision for the growing city of Sheffield was taken over from the private sector by the Water Committee of Sheffield Corporation in 1830. The Rivelin Dams were part of a series of reservoirs subsequently built to the west of the city by the Committee with the Lower being completed in 1845 and the Upper in 1848. When the Water Committee plans to build the Rivelin Dams were approved, a proviso was inserted into the agreement which stipulated that they must supply per day of compensation water into the River Rivelin for the benefit of the mill owners and other users further downstream. In the second half of the 19th century this compensation water often had to be provided by letting water enter the Rivelin valley from the nearby

Redmires Reservoirs The Redmires Reservoirs are a group of three reservoirs in Fulwood, South Yorkshire, Fulwood, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They are fed from the Hallam Moors by various small streams including Fairthorn Clough. The three reservoirs are n ...

which was not an ideal situation. In the early 1900s it was decided to build the Rivelin Tunnel as an alternative way of providing compensation water from the

Upper Derwent Valley The Upper Derwent Valley is an area of the Peak District National Park in England. It largely lies in Derbyshire, but its north eastern area lies in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Its most significant features are the Derwent Dams, Ladybower, Derwent ...

Rivelin tunnel

Construction of the tunnel began in 1903 and was completed in 1909. It was built to use the plentiful supplies of the River Derwent as compensation water for the River Rivelin rather than draining the more valuable waters of Redmires Reservoirs. The tunnel is long, high and wide, it has a fall towards Rivelin of 1 in 3,600 which is 6 ft 7in (2.0m) over its entire length. The tunnel takes water which has come through a drain hole in the south east corner of

Ladybower Reservoir Ladybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped, artificial reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through ...

and delivers it into the Lower Rivelin Reservoir with the tunnel emerging into a grass covered underground tank on the south bank at a point next to where the Wyming Brook enters the Lower reservoir. The tunnel cost £135,151, which was £13,000 under budget.''"Reminiscing Around Rivelin"'', Roy Davey, No ISBN, Page 8, Gives history, reservoir data and details of Rivelin tunnel and water treatment works. A series of sighting towers was constructed to aid in the survey of the tunnel. The collapsed remains of one tower can be found on Stanage Edge. An extant tower stands by the footpath adjacent to Redmires Upper Reservoir conduit. An electric railway ran through Rivelin Tunnel when it was under constructio

Rivelin water treatment works

The water treatment works stand 800 metres east (downstream) of the dam wall of the Lower reservoir. The works were constructed in 1913 and pumped per day of treated Rivelin water to the Hadfield service reservoir at Broomhill (ward)#Crookesmoor, Crookesmoor to supply the City of Sheffield. Further improvements in 1946 increased the flow to Hadfield reservoir to per day. The works also pump Rivelin water up to the Redmires water main against a

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

of . In 2008 the

Civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

company J.N. Bentley installed a 120 kW turbine at the inlet of the works to generate renewable energy; this energy is then used at the works.J.N. Bentley website.
Gives details of turbine. In December 2015 work started on a £24 million project to upgrade the treatment works. The construction of a new building to house new clarifying settlement tanks took place just to the west of the existing works and was carried out by the contractors

Mott MacDonald The Mott MacDonald Group is a management, engineering and development consultancy headquartered in the United Kingdom. It employs over 19,000 staff in 150 countries. Mott MacDonald is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the world. ...

Bentley. The project was completed in December 2017.Water Briefing.
Gives details of new building.Rivelin WTW (2018)
Water Projects Rivelin Dams from Lodge Lane

Flora and fauna

The reservoirs are surrounded by the Wyming Brook Nature Reserve which is part of the Eastern Peak District Moors

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

. Wildlife in the reserve includes northern spinach and common lutestring moths as well as a host of birds both on and off the water. These include

crossbill Crossbills are birds of the genus ''Loxia'' within the finch family (Fringillidae), with six species. These birds are characterized by the mandibles with crossed tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange ...

white-throated dipper The white-throated dipper (''Cinclus cinclus''), also known as the European dipper or just dipper, is an aquatic passerine bird found in Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The species is divided into several subspecies ...

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

coot Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usual ...

moorhen Moorhens—sometimes called marsh hens—are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family (Rallidae). Most species are placed in the genus ''Gallinula'', Latin for "little hen." They are close relatives of coots. They are ...

and

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

; occasional visitors include

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

Canada goose The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North A ...

and

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

.Sheffield Bird Study Group.
Gives details of birds. The flora around the reservoirs consist mostly of

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

and

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

woodland; in autumn many species of

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

are on display including Jew‘s ear, plums and custard and amethyst deceiver. In recent years Yorkshire Water have conducted trials on releasing different volumes of water from the Lower reservoir and monitoring the effects on the River Rivelin. This has resulted in being able to create better conditions for

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

spawning and an increase in the population of bullhead.Yorkshire Water website.
Gives details of water volume trials.

References

{{authority control Reservoirs of the Peak District Reservoirs in South Yorkshire Geography of Sheffield