Max. length 2.85 km (1.77 mi) Surface elevation 330 m Width 900 m | Primary inflows Max. width 0.9 km (0.56 mi) Length 2.85 km Year built 1961 First flooded 1965 | |
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Similar Hury Reservoir, Grassholme Reservoir, Fontburn, Burnhope Reservoir, Tunstall Reservoir | ||
Balderhead Reservoir is a reservoir in Baldersdale, County Durham, England. It is one of a chain of three reservoirs on the River Balder, a tributary of the River Tees, which it joins at Cotherstone, about 5 miles to the east.
Map of Balderhead Reservoir, Barnard Castle, UK
Balderhead Reservoir was constructed upstream of two existing reservoirs, Blackton and Hury, and added 3,500 million imperial gallons (16,000,000 m3) to the storage capacity on the River Balder.
Construction of the Balderhead dam began in 1961 and was finished in 1964, with the reservoir being filled during 1965. The dam, which was built of compacted boulder clay and shale, is 157 feet high and 3,000 feet long, and became, at completion, the highest earth dam constructed in the British Isles.
Balderhead Reservoir was commissioned by the Tees Valley and Cleveland Water Board (TVCWB) to increase water supply to Teesdale. Under the Water Act 1973, ownership of the TVCWB's reservoirs, which included the three Baldersdale reservoirs and two others — Selset and Grassholme — on the River Lune a short distance to the north, was transferred to the Northumbrian Water Authority (NWA). In 1989, NWA was privatised, and the reservoirs are now owned and operated by Northumbrian Water. All five reservoirs supply a water treatment works at Lartington, just south of Cotherstone.