The benefits of a new reservoir

Hi Debbie, thanks very much for getting in touch and for your question. 

Havant Thicket Reservoir is an environmentally-led project which, as well as securing vital water supplies, will help protect internationally-rare chalk streams in Hampshire – namely the Test and Itchen rivers.

In addition to providing drinking water and creating new homes for wildlife, the reservoir will become a new leisure and community focus point for Havant.

However, it isn’t safe to allow swimming in a cold, deep and unsupervised reservoir. Safety is our number one priority and while we can’t completely eliminate the risk with any body of water, there are measures which can reduce the risk. We’ll work with water safety advisory bodies, other managers of reservoirs and local communities to make sure we do everything we can to keep everyone safe around the water.

The reservoir will become a great place for people of all ages to stay healthy, learn more about water and wildlife and get together as a community. Our plans include paths for walking, cycling and horse riding, picnic and play areas and facilities for bird watching. The paths will extend about 5km around the reservoir and will be fully accessible. We’re also proposing to build a visitor centre at the heart of the site with an information and education area, café and toilets.

We carefully considered a range of potential leisure activities at the reservoir site, including water sports, such as sailing and canoeing. The feedback from our Havant Thicket Reservoir stakeholder forum, which is made up of representatives from the local community, environmental groups and other types of organisations, was to provide a ‘Medium’ level of activity. This was based on around 318,000 visits each year, with the proviso of providing scope for possible future expansion. Furthermore, this approach was broadly endorsed during the public consultation on our reservoir proposals in May / June 2020.

In line with the above analysis, we are not planning to allow large scale public water sports at the reservoir, as it would make it feel like a much busier place, attracting more people and putting greater strain on the environment, facilities and local communities. We are, however, open to conversations with specialist partners about providing water activities (excluding swimming) on a small scale in non-public sessions, e.g., for schools or youth groups. There are also plenty of alternative venues for water sports and swimming on the coast, within easy travelling distance of Havant.

Environmental and other preparation work has started at the reservoir site and we’re working in partnership with neighbouring Staunton Country Park and Forestry England, which manages Havant Thicket woodland, to make sure the facilities and activities we provide are a good fit with theirs.

If we you have any further questions, please do let us know.

With best regards.

Hi there, many apologies for the delay in replying to you. 

The reservoir is being developed in partnership with Southern Water, so we can increase our supplies to western Hampshire to support a reduction of abstraction on the River Itchen and Test, particularly during droughts

Under the reservoir scheme that's already received planning permission, the actual water in the reservoir will be used to supply local communities near to the reservoir

This will free up supplies from other water sources further west, which we’ll use to supply Southern Water – up to 21 million litres per day

The South East is water-stressed and all the water companies work together on long-term regional plans to make sure we can all continue to supply our customers

All water companies are working on their plans now, up to the end of the century, and looking at how projects can help secure resources across the country - it’s important to plan for the whole country as water is so essential for homes, businesses and farming.