Silvan Reservoir

Silvan Reservoir
Silvan Reservoir from Kalorama
Location	Silvan, Victoria
Construction began	1926
Opening date	7 July, 1931
Dam and spillways
Length	644 metres
Height	43 metres
Width (base)	219 metres
Reservoir
Creates	Silvan Reservoir
Total capacity	40,000 megalitres
Catchment area	9 km² (off stream storage)
Surface area	3.33 km²

The Silvan Reservoir is located in Silvan about 40 km East of Melbourne, Victoria.

The reservoir's history dates back to 1914 when a severe drought forced Melburnians to search for a new water supply to handle their ever increasing needs. Construction took place between the years of 1926 and 1931. When it was finally completed it was 644 m long, 219 m wide, and 43 m deep. ^{[3] [1] [4] [2]}

Silvan Reservoir was officially opened on 7 July 1931. In 1983, extra work was needed, as the wall had started to show cracks and it was at this time that the picnic ground was added to the Silvan Reservoir Park.

Silvan is an off-stream storage reservoir, meaning that most of the water is sourced from other reservoirs as the actual catchment (9 km²) for Silvan is small. Water for Silvan is sourced from Upper Yarra, O'Shannassy and Thomson (via Upper Yarra) reservoirs. In turn, Silvan directly supplies many of Melbourne's eastern suburbs as well as other off-stream storage reservoirs including Cardinia and Greenvale.

Silvan Reservoir has a capacity of 40,000 megalitres.

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Silvan Reservoir profile, Melbourne Water, retrieved 2010-09-10 
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Silvan Reservoir park, Parks Victoria, retrieved 2010-09-15 
3. ↑ Ritchie, E. G. (October 1934), "Melbourne's Water Supply Undertaking", Journal of Institution of Engineers Australia 6: 379–382, archived from the original on 2011-04-05 
4. ↑ Silvan Reservoir fact sheet, Melbourne Water, retrieved 2010-09-10