Experts view work on making dam safe

The Victorian dam, which holds back Ulley reservoir in Ulley Country Park, near Rotherham, sparked a massive alert when engineers predicted it could burst, inundating roads and villages.

Fire brigade pumps were commandeered from across the country to empty water and minimise the risk of a breach, which would have flooded the M1 and Sheffield Parkway.

As a result of that work the dam remained intact but because of the massive amount of water it held back has required a huge 5m council-funded project to make it safe for the future.

Some 40 members of the British Dam Society, which is an associated society of the Institution of Civil Engineers, yesterday visited the dam to learn more about how it is being repaired.

They were briefed about the rehabilitation of the top of the dam with a special watertight cement "underground wall" as well as improvements to the wave protection arrangements onto the dam wall.

A spokesman for Rotherham Council, which owns the park and reservoir, which is also home to Ulley Sailing Club, said it was hoped the work would be completed in May.

He added: "Ulley Country Park will not re-open to the public until the 35-acre reservoir has refilled and the water levels are sufficiently high enough to cover the quarry workings and the steep sided and silt-covered embankments which have been exposed after draining."