The O'Shannassy Reservoir is an Australian man-made
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...
med
reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
. The water store across the
O'Shannassy River is located near the locality of , approximately east of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Victoria. The dam that creates the impoundment is called the O'Shannassy Dam.
Location and features
The reservoir is part of Melbourne's water supply system. Water flows under gravity to
Silvan Reservoir
The Silvan Reservoir is located in Silvan about east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It has a capacity of . The reservoir is operated by Melbourne Water.
Operations
Silvan is an off-stream storage reservoir, meaning that most of the wate ...
, then to storage and distribution reservoirs around Melbourne. It is the smallest of the water storage reservoirs managed by
Melbourne Water
Melbourne Water is an Australian statutory authority owned by the Victorian State Government, which controls and manages much of the water bodies and supplies in metropolitan Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. Its jurisdiction includes all t ...
, with a capacity of approximately , but it is on a very productive catchment, with stream flow averaging per annum.
The location was selected as it is at sufficient altitude for gravity supply to the elevated eastern suburbs of Melbourne. A diversion weir on the O'Shannassy River and
aqueduct to the
Surrey Hills Reservoir in Melbourne were completed in 1914. The weir was complemented by the construction of the dam and its reservoir in 1928, but the weir was still used to divert river flows into the aqueduct. The construction of the Yarra-Silvan conduits in the 1950s resulted in reduced requirements for the aqueduct which was decommissioned in 1997.
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]
See also
* List of reservoirs and dams in Victoria
* Melbourne Water
Melbourne Water is an Australian statutory authority owned by the Victorian State Government, which controls and manages much of the water bodies and supplies in metropolitan Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. Its jurisdiction includes all t ...
References
{{Melbourne dams
Reservoirs in Victoria (state)
1928 establishments in Australia
Yarra Ranges Shire