The process of taking water from rivers is known as abstraction.

Water companies are licensed to abstract water from rivers by the Environment Agency, which monitors the process to make sure the effects are not damaging to the eco-system.

We abstract water from 10 rivers across our service area and use five surface reservoirs - Bewl Water, Weir Wood, Powdermill,  Darwell and Testwood Lakes. Click on the map above to launch a larger version showing the locations of the reservoirs and the abstraction points detailed below.