THE 130-acre Clatworthy Reservoir in the Brendon Hills near Wiveliscombe will not be expanded despite recent heatwave weather and Wessex Water’s first hosepipe ban in half a century.

The reservoir, which opened in 1961 and supplies drinking water to about 200,000 homes, is currently 48 per cent full despite this summer’s prolonged drought.

The water company said although the area was experiencing changing weather and increased housebuilding, it did not have any immediate plans to upgrade the reservoir, which is fed by the River Tone.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Clatworthy Reservoir remains an important part of Wessex Water’s supply network in Somerset and is not currently being developed to increase its capacity.

“However, as part of both regional and company-level water resources management plans (WRMPs), a wide range of future supply and demand measures continue to be assessed, including opportunities to improve the resilience and efficiency of existing assets.

“Our draft WRMPs will be published for public consultation in the spring of 2028.

“Any proposal would need to be supported by detailed technical, environmental, and economic studies and would be subject to the appropriate regulatory and planning processes.”

Wessex Water’s previous WRMP included a series of commitments designed to cut water usage by consumers to in turn reduce pressure on its existing reservoirs until new facilities could be delivered.

It included rolling out smart meters to 95 per cent of customers by 2035, reducing leaks by 50 per cent by 2050 and ‘investigating new regional strategic resource options’, such as creating new storage reservoirs in former Mendip Hills quarries.

Wessex is part of the West Country Water and Environment consortium which is currently aiming to deliver a second reservoir near Cheddar to meet the area’s future water demands, although it would not be operational until 2035.