| Lower Oakdale reservoir near Osmotherly
in danger of bursting damn
Then in 1968 - If an extremely heavy rainfall hit the Cleveland area, the Lower Oakdale reservoir near Osmotherly containing 15 million gallons of water would be in danger of bursting its damn.
“The spillways at Lower Oakdale can only accommodate an hourly rainfall of one and three quarters of an inch. This means that if a major flood should occur in the area excess water could not drain away quickly enough. Flood water would then cascade over the earth dam which would quickly collapse under pressure.
The Board agreed to spend £34,000 on making the reservoir safe, but the remedial work will not take place until next spring, and Mr Bannister admitted that the delay was a calculated risk. “We will just have to keep our fingers crossed.” he said.
Now in 1999 - The level of Lower Oakdale reservoir was lowered in the early ‘90s and the reservoir has been down graded to a small pond attracting a wide variety of wild life. Yorkshire Water still maintains it and is still available to supply compensating water to Codbeck reservoir (below) and the River Swale.
This article originally appeared in the June 1999 issue of Now
& Then Magazine
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