The King George V Reservoir, also known as King George's Reservoir, is located in the

London Borough of Enfield The London Borough of Enfield () is a London boroughs, London borough in North London. It borders the London boroughs of London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the west, London Borough of Haringey, Haringey to the south, and London Borough of Walt ...

and is part of the

Lee Valley Reservoir Chain The Lee Valley Reservoir Chain is located in the Lee Valley, and comprises 13 reservoirs that supply drinking water to London. The Reservoir Chain is a major geographic constraint; together with the Thames it is one of the two significant topogr ...

that supplies

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

with drinking water. The storage reservoir is bordered by

Sewardstone Sewardstone is a hamlet and district of southern Waltham Abbey, in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England, lying between Epping Forest and the built-up areas of Waltham Abbey, Chingford and Enfield. It is 11.6 miles north-northeast of Centr ...

and

Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow t ...

to the east and

Brimsdown Brimsdown is a neighbourhood of eastern Enfield in the London Borough of Enfield, north London, on the west side of the mid-to-lower Lea Valley. Geography The east of Brimsdown, that is, east of the eastern Lea Valley line is one of the borough ...

and

Ponders End Ponders End is the southeasternmost part of Enfield, north London, centred on the Hertford Road. Situated to the west of the River Lee Navigation, it became industrialised through the 19th century, similar to the Lea Valley in neighbouring Ed ...

to the west, and covers 420 acres (170 hectares), making it the largest in London. The reservoir and the nearby

William Girling Reservoir The William Girling Reservoir is located in the London Borough of Enfield and is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain that supplies London with drinking water. It is named after William Girling OBE, a chairman of the Metropolitan Water Board (M ...

are known collectively as the Chingford Reservoirs, and are owned and managed by

Thames Water Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is a large private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in most of Greater London, Luton, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, north Wiltsh ...

History

The reservoir was conceived as part of an overall plan for the

Lea Valley The Lea Valley, the valley of the River Lea, has been used as a transport corridor, a source of sand and gravel, an industrial area, a water supply for London, and a recreational area. The London 2012 Summer Olympics were based in Stratford, in ...

and was laid before the Royal Commission on Water Supply (Balfour Committee) in 1893. At this time the responsible authority was the

East London Waterworks Company The East London Waterworks Company was one of eight private water companies in London absorbed by the Metropolitan Water Board in 1904. The company was founded by Act of Parliament in 1806, and in 1845 the limits of supply were described as ''" ...

. However, under the Provisions of the Metropolis Water Act of 1902, the undertakings of this as well as seven other companies were transferred to the

Metropolitan Water Board The Metropolitan Water Board was a municipal body formed in 1903 to manage the water supply in London, UK. The members of the board were nominated by the local authorities within its area of supply. In 1904 it took over the water supply functi ...

. Construction was started in 1908 and completed in 1912. The reservoir was opened by H.M.King George V in 1913, hence the name. The Metropolitan Water Board operated the reservoir until the Board was abolished in 1974 under the provisions of the ''Water Act 1973'' (c. 37) and ownership and control transferred to the

Thames Water Authority The Thames Water Authority was one of ten regional water authorities created in the UK on 1 April 1974 under the provisions of the Water Act 1973 to bring together all the water management functions of the region in one public body. Predece ...

. Under the provisions of the

Water Act 1989 The Water Act 1989 (1989 c.15) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reorganised the bodies responsible for all aspects of water within England and Wales. Whereas previous legislation, particularly the Water Act 1973, had focuse ...

(c. 15) the Thames Water Authority was privatised as

Description

The reservoir was formed by the construction of a continuous embankment on the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...

. An earth embankment divides the reservoir into two compartments that are connected by three large diameter culverts. The external grassed embankment consists of a central puddle clay core with shoulder filling comprising a mixture of river terraced gravels and

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

deposits. The reservoir embankment has a puddle clay core extending down into the underlying

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

and gravel/earth shoulders at a slope of 1 in 3. The top of the embankment is 10 m above the surrounding land. The key engineering parameters are: Located in the NW corner is the original inlet

pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as well drilling, drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastru ...

by W.B. Bryan and finished in

red brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

. Still ''in situ'' are three of the five gas-fuelled liquid-piston pumps designed by H. A. Humphrey. In 1970 these were made redundant by the installation of a vertical spindle

electric pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they ...

. The emergency drawdown rate (the rate at which the water level in the reservoir can be reduced) was about 0.35 metres/day. Inspections in 2005-07 identified that this was inadequate, and proposed that the drawdown should be 1.0 m/d as defined in the provisions of the '' Reservoirs Act 1975'' (c.23). This was achieved by installing twin 1.2 m diameter siphon pipes over the embankment. The valves controlling the outflow are 8.0 m high and have a flow capacity of 7 m³/s. The siphons are located in the south east corner of the reservoir and discharge is into the River Lee Diversion.

Ecology

The water is part of the Chingford Reservoirs

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI). It is a major wintering ground for

wildfowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating on ...

and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

birds, including nationally important numbers of some species. The water also forms a

moult In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...

refuge for a large population of wildfowl during the late summer months. A total of 85 wetland species have been recorded here in recent years.

Recreation

The reservoir is popular with

birdwatchers 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, by ...

, and is home to the King George

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 ...

Club. Access has required permits and a key are required to visit the water, which were obtained from Thames Water. Since July 2016, access arrangements have been "under review", a process which is still ongoing in February 2020.

Water supply

King George V Reservoir Pumping Station1

Water is supplied to the reservoir from the New River, via the Northern Transfer Tunnel, and the

River Lee Diversion The River Lee Diversion is located in the Lea Valley, close to Enfield Lock and to the north east corner of the King George V Reservoir. History As its name implies, the River Lea was diverted to accommodate the construction of the Chingfor ...

.pp3 Reservoir information
Retrieved December 21, 2007

Access

Vehicular access is at Lea Valley Road A110 *

Ponders End railway station Ponders End railway station is on the West Anglia Main Line, serving the district of Ponders End in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and is located between and . Its three-letter sta ...

London Buses route 313 This is a list of Transport for London (TfL) contracted bus routes in London, England, as well as commercial services that enter the Greater London area (except coaches). Bus services in London are operated by Abellio London, Arriva London, G ...

References

Literature

*''A Poacher's Tale''. Told by A.T. Curtis. Related by Fred J Speakman. Includes several references to the reservoir. . Published 1960 by

George Bell & Sons George Bell & Sons was a book publishing house located in London, United Kingdom, from 1839 to 1986. History George Bell & Sons was founded by George Bell as an educational bookseller, with the intention of selling the output of London univ ...

. *''An Edmonton Boy'' by Terry Webb. Reference to the reservoir on page 36. . Published 2000 by Biograph.

External links

British damsKing George Sailing ClubThe Humphrey pumpNational Archives-H A HumphreyEnglish Nature, Chingford Reservoirs citationEnglish Nature, Nature on the Map, Chingford Reservoirs
{{authority control Sites of Special Scientific Interest in London Thames Water reservoirs Reservoirs in London Drinking water reservoirs in England