The Silvan Reservoir is a reservoir created by the Silvan Dam, an earth-filled embankment dam across the Stoneyford Creek, located in Silvan, approximately east of Melbourne, in the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria, Australia. Completed in 1931, the reservoir is fed by off-stream sources and is used to supply potable water for Greater Metropolitan Melbourne and for the generation of hydroelectricity.
The reservoir and dam are operated by Melbourne Water.
Dam and reservoir overview Dam
A severe drought in 1914 forced the state government to search for a new water supply to handle Melbourne's ever-increasing needs. Construction took place between 1926 and 1931, and the reservoir was officially opened on 7 July 1931.
The earth-filled dam wall is high, long, and wide at the base. When full, the resultant reservoir has a storage capacity of , is deep, and covers , drawn from a catchment area of . The uncontrolled spillway has a discharge capacity of . In 1983, the dam wall started to show cracks and remedial works were completed in 1986, that included adding a rock-fill face to the downstream dam wall.
Reservoir The catchment area for the reservoir is quite small, resulting in the Silvan Reservoir fed by off-stream sources from other reservoirs. Water for the Silvan Reservoir is transferred from the Upper Yarra, O'Shannassy and Thomson (via Upper Yarra) reservoirs. In turn, the Silvan Reservoir directly supplies water to many of Melbourne's eastern suburbs, as well as other off-stream storage reservoirs, including Cardinia and Greenvale.
The picnic ground at the Silvan Reservoir Park is managed by Parks Victoria.
Hydroelectric power station In 2008, a mini-hydro power station was installed adjacent to the dam wall, that generates approximately annually.
See also
List of power stations in Victoria List of reservoirs and dams in Victoria
References
External links