South West Water

South West Water is the regional water and wastewater company serving Devon and Cornwall, responsible for supplying drinking water and treating wastewater across the South West. On Dartmoor, its most visible presence is as the owner and manager of several of the moor's reservoirs, built during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to supply drinking water to Plymouth and other growing towns. These include Burrator Reservoir on the southwestern moor, completed in 1898; Fernworthy Reservoir near Chagford, built between 1936 and 1942; and Avon Dam near South Brent, built in 1957 to serve the South Hams. South West Water manages the land around these reservoirs, much of which is popular open access and walking country within Dartmoor National Park, and works with conservation partners on habitat and catchment projects, including a large-scale peatland restoration scheme at Burrator. Public recreation facilities at Burrator, Fernworthy and Avon Dam are generally provided in partnership with Dartmoor National Park Authority and South West Lakes Trust, a charity that manages day-to-day recreational access on South West Water's behalf. Cover photograph: photo by Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.