Waskerley Reservoir is the largest of a group of three reservoirs located on Muggleswick Common

Muggleswick

Muggleswick is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the west of Consett.The village has a number of farms and domestic dwellings as well as the Church of England church, generally accepted as dedicated to All Saints, and village hall . Amenities other...

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, the others being Smiddy Shaw

Smiddy Shaw Reservoir

Smiddy Shaw Reservoir is one of a group of three reservoirs located on Muggleswick Common, County Durham, the others being Waskerley and Hisehope Reservoirs.The reservoir, which was completed by 1872, is owned and operated by Northumbrian Water...

 and Hisehope Reservoir

Hisehope Reservoir

Hisehope Reservoir is the smallest of a group of three reservoirs located on Muggleswick Common, County Durham, the others being Waskerley and Smiddy Shaw Reservoirs.The reservoir was completed 1906, and is owned and operated by Northumbrian Water...

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The reservoir, which was constructed in 1877, is owned and operated by Northumbrian Water

Northumbrian Water

Northumbrian Water Group plc is the holding company for several companies in the water supply, sewerage and waste water industries. NWG's largest subsidiary is Northumbrian Water Limited , which is one of ten companies in England and Wales that are regulated water supply and sewerage utilities...

. It and Smiddy Shaw—which in turn is fed by Hisehope—feed water under gravity to a water treatment works at Honey Hill. Because the three reservoirs cannot meet the full demand of Honey Hill, Waskerley can be replenished by a gravity feed from Burnhope Reservoir

Burnhope Reservoir

Burnhope Reservoir is a reservoir above the village of Wearhead, County Durham.The reservoir was created by the construction of an earth embankment dam across the valley of Burnhope Burn, a tributary of the River Wear, 1 km above Wearhead...

 or, if necessary, by pumping water from the Tyne-Tees Tunnel via an airshaft

Ventilation shaft

In subterranean civil engineering, ventilation shafts, also known as airshafts or vent shafts, are vertical passages used in mines and tunnels to move fresh air underground, and to remove stale air....

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Waskerley and its two neighbouring reservoirs are located within the Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons and Blanchland Moor

Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons and Blanchland Moor

Muggleswick, Stanhope and Edmundbyers Commons and Blanchland Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham and Northumberland, England...

 Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

, which itself forms part of the North Pennines

North Pennines

The North Pennines is the northernmost section of the Pennine range of hills which runs north-south through northern England. It lies between Carlisle to the west and Darlington to the east...

  Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.