Lake too shallow for water sports as levels drop

Water levels at one of Cornwall's biggest reservoirs remain very low, meaning much of it cannot be used for water sports.

Stithians lake near Redruth is currently 27% full following a long, dry summer and South West Water said "sustained rainfall over a number of months" was needed for storage levels to "significantly improve". More than 250,000 people in south and west Cornwall get their water from Stithians.

The lake is used by wing foiling riders and paddleboarders, and chief water sports instructor at the lake, Lark Bridges, said part of the site was "too shallow" for equipment.

"There are underwater hazards so we've closed that off for safety reasons," Bridges said.

It's cutting things short and that's a bit sad," Bridges added.

"The area that we normally use for equipment hire and people using their own kit is now too shallow for any activities."

Currently, the water level at Stithians reservoir is 24.5%.

Walking at the site, Heidi Carveth who lives nearby, said she had observed water levels dropping over the last month.

She said: "It's quite worrying with the population we've got in Cornwall and with no rainfall - maybe we need more reservoirs in the future?"

Also there was Hugh Morell, who grew up near Truro, and said he had visited the site since the 1960s.

"This is the lowest I've ever seen this reservoir," he said

Rebecca Parkinson, who jogs around the reservoir with her dog, said it was "concerning".

"Is it going to get worse?," she said.

"What's going to happen next year and the year after when we get these hotter summers? It's something we probably ought to be thinking about and how do we protect these areas".

The reservoir was built more than 50 years ago to support water supplies in Cornwall.

A hosepipe ban after remains in place across Devon and Cornwall and South West Water thanked customers for continuing to reduce water usage.

"Efforts to save water are helping us manage supplies during a continued period of drought," the water company said.

Sam Bottomley, South West Water's director of water operations said water levels at reservoirs including Stithians, and Wimbleball in Devon were continuing to go down despite some rain in recent weeks.

He said: "It really hasn't rained anywhere near enough to replenish or even stop the decay of the reservoirs at the moment, they are all still dropping. So even the rain you see hasn't actually given us any significant benefit in levels.

"The problem is the consumption is still high so even though the sun may not be beating today on us, the average temperatures have been warmer than normal and consumption has been higher than normal.

"So people are still using water even with the hosepipe ban. It has reduced but we are still higher than average for this time of year."

The government is urging water companies to do more to safeguard supplies to accommodate new weather patterns.

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