River Tamar to boost Roadford Reservoir

West Devon councillors have been assured there is “zero” risk of any contaminated water from the River Tamar going into the drinking water supply as its controversial top up plan for Roadford Reservoir was given the go ahead.

The water company wants to build a new water abstraction and pumping facility in the countryside two miles from Lifton which would connect the River Tamar to its largest reservoir serving 850,000 people from across areas of Devon and North East Cornwall.

It says taking water from the Tamar when the flow is high in the winter to boost Roadford means the reservoir will be full by April 1 each year.

In 2022 the reservoir level dropped by two thirds forcing hose pipe bans and emergency water extraction to be carried out from the county’s rivers.

South West Water says without this scheme it may not have enough water to supply its customers in the future and this was “critical regional infrastructure.”

But there are concerns about the water quality in the upper Tamar. 

Local objector William Perry told members of West Devon’s development management committee that the site of the pumping station at Gatherley would be a mile below the sewage treatment works at St Leonards in Launceston, on the Cornish side of the river, which had in excess of 100 sewage spills this year.

With spills and agricultural runoff going into the river, he said he was surprised they wanted to pump from the River Tamar at all.

“I think it is a disaster waiting to happen,” he said.

He said in addition building a half a kilometre road in this tranquil spot of ancient grassland, concreting 25 metres of riverbank and felling ancient trees would create a harmful visual impact from the Cornish side.

“I am not anti abstraction but the location halfway between the source of the river and the mouth of the river is too high up for the amount of water you want to collect.”

He was worried about the environmental consequences of water removal from the Tamar, and this was reflected in the 19 letters of objection to the council.

“For the past three years low flow has meant major siltation and only this year did we have a high flow flushing the Tamar through which was so desperately needed for migratory fish like salmon to run and breed.”

He said in years to come desalination plants and other new advances would make abstraction sites like this obsolete.

“For the sake of the river, valley and wildlife corridors which have been unspoilt for 100 years, I ask you to reject this,” he said.

South West Water’s project manager Tom Shenton said the water company had been working with the Environment Agency since 2012 to find the best site for an abstraction facility.

There was currently one on the River Lyd, which had cleaner water due to a smaller catchment area, but it didn’t provide sufficient water, he said.

There was also a facility at Gunnislake but it was not “economically viable” to pump water from there to Roadford.

The site would be subject to stringent controls by the Environment Agency to ensure that dirty, polluted or poor water could not be abstracted from the river and transferred to the reservoir, he said.

“If the water exceeds the threshold of the agreed water quality parameters then the pump will stop working.”

Water would only be abstracted during times of high flow.

He added that all the raw untreated water that entered the reservoir was treated before it went into the water supply anyway.

“There is zero risk of any contaminated water going into the supply,” he said.

Cllr Caroline Mott (Con, Bridestowe) said she was concerned about large areas of farmland and countryside being dug up by South West Water to lay pipes. She said she would rather money was spent on improving existing infrastructure and the quality of the water.

Cllr Mandy Ewings (Ind, Tavistock South West) said the river at Gatherley was frequently used by open water swimmers, kayakers and by people fishing and hoped the facility would not impact on their enjoyment of the river.

Lifton Parish Council supported the application but there were some concerns by Lawhitton Parish Council on the other side of the river about visual impact and noise pollution.

The council was told that once the abstraction plant was built it would be visited infrequently, it was set down in the countryside and not visible from the wider landscape and there was no floodlighting. Tests showed that noise levels from the pumping action would be below the background noise.

A landscape plan is proposed for further screening and conditions were put in place for a watercourse habitat compensation scheme and biodiversity net gain.

Ward member Cllr Chris Edmunds (Con, Tamarside), who had called for the application to be discussed by the committee because a building in this location in the open countryside would not normally be supported, said he was satisfied that objections had been addressed.

The proposal was supported unanimously.