Wimbleball Lake reservoir bridge reappears due to drought

The original Bessom Bridge has become visible at Wimbleball Lake on Exmoor after the reservoir dropped to just 28 per cent of its capacity.

The crossing was submerged when the valley was flooded in the late 1970s as part of the creation of Wimbleball Reservoir, one of the South West's largest inland water bodies.

Located on Exmoor, the reservoir was officially opened in 1979 and was built to help secure water supplies across parts of Somerset and Devon. At full capacity it can hold around 21.3 billion litres of water and plays an important role in supplying drinking water to around 300,000 homes and businesses in the West Somerset and East Devon area.

According to Environment Agency data published in mid September, water levels at Wimbleball are less than a third of the long-term average for this time of year, making it one of the most severely depleted reservoirs in the country.

The low levels follow a summer of prolonged hot and dry weather, which has affected water resources, agriculture and wildlife across many parts of the UK.

While rainfall in recent weeks has brought some improvement in places, drought conditions remain in several regions and water companies continue to encourage customers to use water carefully.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest many households have already changed their habits, with 88 per cent of adults surveyed saying they had taken at least one step to reduce their water use during August.

The sight of the long-submerged bridge has attracted considerable interest from visitors to Wimbleball, highlighting both the reservoir's unique history, and the worrying impact that climate change-related weather conditions have had on water levels across the region.