On 05/08/2019 10:18, NY wrote:

I may have missed something in the earlier new reports, but why are they
having to *pump* water out of the reservoir? Is there a problem with
taking water out in the normal way? I think it's a canal feeder
reservoir. Can the canals not cope with a greater flow of water into
them than was originally intended?

Canals weren't designed to carry a significant flow of water.

They're a series of long thin "lakes" connected by locks where there's a
change in level. Every time a boat passes through a lock a lock's worth
of water escapes from the higher section to the lower one. Apart from
that there's very little flow.