Briefing: Reservoir safety reform in the context of the Toddbrook Reservoir incident

For over 20 years, until January 2026, the author was a senior team leader and advisor in the national enforcement authority team for the Reservoirs Act 1975, in England and Wales. As a reservoir safety regulator, the author was personally involved in the Toddbrook Reservoir incident during its early decision making phase on 1 August 2019. The Supervising Engineer telephoned the author directly from the dam, and the author provided a copy of the latest inspection report to the Prime Minister for his subsequent site visit. The Toddbrook incident was the catalyst for a government review, which led to the current Reservoir Safety Reform Programme. The 2021 Independent Reservoir Safety Review Report by Professor David Balmforth contains over 50 recommendations, under 15 main headings. Although many of the proposed actions and reforms would be helpful to improve reservoir safety for dams and reservoirs in England and Wales, it is doubtful whether any of them would have prevented the Toddbrook incident. Frustratingly, during the post-incident investigations, there was no agreement on the spillway failure mechanism. Better understanding, surveillance, and monitoring of structural spillway performance is needed to prevent similar incidents. This is a highly technical challenge, not a legal one.