The reservoir was drained for maintenance work in 2001 when a leak was discovered in Winscar dam. During the repairs, old pipework systems from the Dunford dam, which was built in 1850 and submerged by the Winscar dam when it was built downstream in 1975, were brought back online to divert water around Winscar. This has now been reversed.
According to operators of the reservoir, Yorkshire Water, it may come back into supply in the summer depending on stocks elsewhere in Yorkshire.
