Managing Scottish Water's non-operational reservoirs

An options assessment document was provided to Scottish Water in 2013 with recommendations for the future management of 96 non-operational reservoirs. Six main options for future management were assessed at this stage: option 1, make safe and maintain; option 2, discontinuance (with full depth notch); option 3, sale after making safe; option 4, rent; option 5, generate hydroelectric power; and option 6, let lease revert to landowner. The key stage of the options assessment was a comparison between the estimated costs of the outstanding measures in the interests of safety, or equivalent recommended safety works for non-statutory reservoirs and the cost of discontinuing the reservoir. Options were then selected on the basis of a comparison of the two sets of costs. The potential for generating hydroelectric power was also assessed using flow information for each of the locations, where available.