Photographer fears Derbyshire reservoir will run dry in summer drought

A man who has visited the Upper Derwent Valley for nearly half a century fears that Howden Reservoir could dry up without rainfall in August.

Iain Gregory posted pictures of the low level of water in the reservoir on social media, commenting: “Not often you can stand just eight feet away from the bottom of the turret at Howden dam wall.

“If we have a dry August September then I reckon it will go empty.”

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Mr Gregory, who lives in Worksop and works as a team leader for a distribution company, said that he was shocked to see the water at such a low level in July. He said: “I’ve been going since 1976 when I was three and it’s never been that low. It’s usually at its lowest end of September – it was that low in 2018 but in September.”

Howden Dam is the uppermost of three reservoirs in the Derwent Valley with its western half in Derbyshire and its eastern half in South Yorkshire.