Flooding: Call for changes to reservoir management

Water levels in reservoirs should be managed better in order to prevent them overflowing in the future, a Welsh Assembly member has said.

Montgomeryshire AM Russell George said a "failure in operational arrangements" had led to the Clywedog and Vyrnwy reservoirs in Powys overflowing.

The water levels are controlled by the England-based Environment Agency.

The Environment Agency said it was looking at ways of managing water release in the future.

Mr George said: "The recent appalling weather conditions have once again exposed the failure in operational arrangements and flood risk management at Clywedog and Lake Vyrnwy which has resulted in both reservoirs overflowing, the consequence of which has been downstream flooding in both areas. 

"The fact that we see continuous overflowing over the top of each reservoirs, demonstrates the lack of control of water discharge."

Both reservoirs are owned and managed by Hafren Dyfrdwy, part of Severn Trent, which said the level of water was "natural" given recent rainfall.

It added: "We could only create spare capacity by releasing water which can only be undertaken at the request of the Environment Agency."

The Environment Agency said it would meet with community representatives to discuss the issues.

It added: "The recent exceptional wet weather has restricted what releases can be made without elevating downstream levels further.

"We are working with Natural Resources Wales and the water companies to look at ways of managing the release of water in future."