Water Away!!

This is SSE letting a bit of water go from the resevoir! The flow in the Lyon is regulated from the dam. It is a balancing act between letting enough water out to maintain the flow of the river, and letting water out at the optimal rate to generate electricity. Usually, water is released from the bottom off the dam, in a much less spectacular fashion than this. On this occasion, it had been very wet in the previous weeks, and presumably releasing water in this way brings the water level back more quickly to it's normal level. The calculation between prior rainfall, weather forecast, level of loch and water needed in river must be very complex indeed, and almost certainly very expensive if you get the equation wrong. It is very noticeable how constant the flow in the Lyon is, and how quickly it can move from flood conditions to just about ankle-deep, sometimes in just a day. A dam like this can moderate the worst effects of floods under most conditions, although their is a massive catchment area below this dam as well, and given the length of the glen, a head of water can still quickly build up, dam or no dam.