Alton Water (or Alton Reservoir) is a manmade

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

located on the Shotley peninsula. It is the largest in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, with a

perimeter A perimeter is a closed path that encompasses, surrounds, or outlines either a two dimensional shape or a one-dimensional length. The perimeter of a circle or an ellipse is called its circumference. Calculating the perimeter has several pract ...

of over .

Construction

Due to a shortage of water in the

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

area in the 1960s, a list of twenty potential sites for reservoirs was made, with Alton being the chosen site. The land was mainly farmland, but was also home to a

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

and Alton Hall. The mill was dismantled and reconstructed at the

Museum of East Anglian Life The Food Museum, formerly the Museum of East Anglian Life, is a museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England, which specialises in presenting the agricultural history of East Anglia through a mixture of exhibits and living history demonstrations. His ...

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 road (Great Britain), A14 trunk ...

. Construction and the filling with water took 13 years to complete. Alton Reservoir was opened in 1987 and is fed from the

River Gipping The River Gipping is the source river for the River Orwell in the county of Suffolk in East Anglia, England, which is named from the village of Gipping, and which gave its name to the former Gipping Rural District. The name is unrelated to the ...

and bore holes on the north side of the

River Orwell The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England from Ipswich to Felixstowe. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the River Gipping, but its name changes to the Orwell at Stoke Bridge, where the river becomes tidal. It broadens into ...

. The pumping station and treatment works below the dam is capable of treating up to of water a day. Between 85% and 95% of the water goes to Ipswich and

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116km (72 miles) northeast of London. His ...

via the

Wherstead reservoir Wherstead is a village and a civil parish located in county Suffolk, England. Wherstead village lies south of Ipswich on the Shotley peninsula. It is in the Belstead Brook electoral division of Suffolk County Council. It is an ancient sett ...

and the

Orwell Bridge The Orwell Bridge is a concrete box girder bridge just south of Ipswich in Suffolk, England. Opened to road traffic in 1982, the bridge carries the A14 road (formerly the A45) over the River Orwell. History Design The main span is 190 metres w ...

with the remainder fed to the villages of the

Shotley Shotley is a village and civil parish south-east of Ipswich in the English county of Suffolk. It is in the Babergh District, Babergh district and gives its name to the Shotley peninsula between the Rivers River Stour, Suffolk, Stour and River ...

Peninsula and south Suffolk.

Uses

Other uses include: *

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

: in the late 1980s and through the 1990s the reservoir was one of the top match fisheries due to the large shoals of bream and roach. *

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

and

watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...

Birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...

* Great East Swim: a mass participation open water swim.

Cultural references

* The reservoir is nicknamed "

Gitche Gumee Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

" by a character in the

Strong Winds trilogy The Strong Winds series is a series of children's books written by English author Julia Jones. The books reference many of the settings and characters of the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome. The books use adventure stories about sai ...

of children's novels by British writer

Julia Jones Julia Jones (born January 23, 1981) is an American actress, known for playing Leah Clearwater in '' The Twilight Saga'' films and Kohana in the HBO series ''Westworld''. She also co-stars on '' Dexter: New Blood''. Early life and education Jul ...

.Julia Jones ''The Salt-Stained Book'' Golden Duck, 2011

References

{{Authority control Drinking water reservoirs in England Tourist attractions in Suffolk Reservoirs in Suffolk Babergh District