Nutscale Reservoir
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| Nutscale Reservoir | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Nutscale Reservoir | |
| Location | Exmoor, Somerset, England |
| Coordinates | 51°10′37″N 3°37′52″W / 51.177°N 3.631°W |
| Primary inflows | Nutscale Water |
| Primary outflows | Nutscale Water |
| Managing agency | Wessex Water |
| Built | 1942 |
| Surface area | 8 acres (3.2 ha) |
| Average depth | 12.2 metres (40 ft) |
| Water volume | 277,000 m3 (225 acre⋅ft) |
| Shore length1 | 1,140 metres (3,740 ft) |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Nutscale Reservoir is a reservoir located in Exmoor in north west Somerset, England. It was intended to supply the town of Minehead and nearby Porlock and Porlock Weir.[1] The reservoir is part of the River Horner catchment area and is fed by Nutscale Water . The reservoir is no longer used for public drinking water supply.[2]
The reservoir was built in 1942.[3] A mass concrete gravity arch dam, 90m along the crest and 14m high[4] impounds 36,000,000 imperial gallons (160,000,000 L; 43,000,000 US gal). This was intended to relieve summer droughts in Minehead.[5]
High levels of geosmin were recorded in 2008.[6] To manage the effects of this on tap water systems were developed to remove this reservoir from the drinking water supply when necessary and flush the pipe carrying the water.[7]
The site is operated by Wessex Water whose drought plan suggests that six months would be required to bring Nutscale back into supply operations in a severe drought.[8]
The fishing rights to the reservoir are owned by the National Trust, as part of its Holnicote Estate, and leased out privately.[9]
