River Exe

Question 1

Vegetation cover of river exe

Answer 1

Environmentally rich
2 areas of outstanding natural beauty
3 special areas of conservation 
32 sites if scientific interest
146 scheduled monuments

Question 2

Relief if the river

Answer 2

The catchment covers an area of 1500square km

Annual rainfall ranges from more than 2300mm to 800mn

Question 3

Settlements on the exe

Answer 3

Exeter(population of 119600), Tiverton, cullomptom, crediton, exmouth and dawlish etc
The remainder is mainly rural with smaller villages but is dominated by agriculture

Question 4

Geology of exe

Answer 4

400million years of geology
Oldest rocks- Devonian siltstones, sandstones and shales (Edmonton uplands)
Permit-Triassic sandstones, mudstones and breccias in middle area of catchment
Sands and muds deposited in exe estuary

Question 5

Where is the source of the river exe?

Answer 5

Exmoor

Question 6

Where is the mouth of the river exe?

Answer 6

Exmouth

Question 7

What are rivers, groundwater and coastal waters in east Devon used for?

Answer 7

Drinking water
Recreation
Healthy fisheries and wildlife

Question 8

Where is the river exe found?

Answer 8

In Devon

South west of England

Question 9

What are the water problems at the exe?

Answer 9

Manures, slurry and soul enters the river
Sewage leaks and run off from urban areas
One dairy cow is worth 50 people’s pollution

Question 10

Human interference at the exe?

Answer 10

Flood defence channels
Removal of water
Fish farms
Pumped storage scheme
Exmoor mires project
Wimblewall reservoir
Settlements

Only 7% of catchment is developed compared to national average of 16%

Question 11

Does it have a high or low drainage density?

Answer 11

High

Question 12

What is the land use like?

Answer 12

Agriculture 67%
Woodland 15%
Mood/peats 3%
Urbanised 0.6%

Question 13

Wimbleball reservoir 1979

Where is it?

Answer 13

River haddeo and upper river exe

Question 14

Size of wimbleball reservoir

Answer 14

Length of crest-300m
Height of dam-50m
Volume of concrete-184,000cubic metres
Maximum base width-57m
Net storage capacity-21,562litres
Surface area when full-162hectares
Catchment area-2900hectares
Average annual rainfall-1330mm

Question 15

Final cost of wimbleball reservoir

Answer 15

£16.5million

Question 16

What does the reservoir do?

Answer 16

• supplies water to Exeter and parts of east Devon
• regulates water flow, ensuring a steady flow regime during year-prevents peaks and troughs if water discharge that make flooding/drought more likely
• reservoir and river exe provide water for around 220,000people
• one of 3large strategic reservoirs which account for 75% of reservoir storage
• estimated that by 2020 there will be 0.5% less water available for use in wimblewall catchment(has highest population growth and 500,000 visitors in peak week)