The Bewl Water story

Bewl Water is the largest inland water in the southeast. With a perimeter of 17 miles, the reservoir lies in a gentle valley within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty between the villages of Lamberhurst, Wadhurst and Ticehurst.

Built during the 1970s, the careful landscaping of the scheme, plus the consideration given to access and conservation, helped create a reservoir that was not just a water supply facility capable of storing 6,900 million gallons when full, but also a living area of countryside that visitors and many thousands of wildlife species could share side by side.

Today Bewl Water is one of the top tourist destinations in Kent and Sussex. With a range of popular attractions and activities, it also provides a home to well over three thousand different wildlife species whilst continuing to fulfil a water supply function that is of ever-increasing importance within the area.
Bewl Water was created to help meet the growing demand for water in the southeast. Rapid growth in housing, combined with greater use of water for industrial needs such as paper making and electricity generation, led to the identification of the clay-lined Bewl Valley as a suitable site for a reservoir.

Construction commenced in 1973 with a dam, 900m long and 30m high, which turned the former agricultural valley into a vast bowl capable of holding 6,900 million gallons of water when full; this coincidentally equates to 1 gallon (4.5ltrs) each for every man woman and child in the world!

The scheme, a joint partnership between Southern water and Mid Kent Water, was completed in 1978 and now supplies water to numerous areas including the Medway Towns, north Maidstone, the Hastings area and local villages. The reservoir is filled when water supplies are plentiful – usually during the winter months – by pumping from the R.Teise at Goudhurst and the R.Medway at Yalding.

For further information please click on the following:
Bewl Water Facts & Figures

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