Whiting Street Reservoir, often shortened as Whiting Reservoir a Class I hazard

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 ...

, is an auxiliary drinking supply for the city of

Holyoke, Massachusetts Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,238. Located north of Springfield ...

. The reservoir has an impound capacity of more than 479 million gallons of water and a safe yield of of water per day. The reservoir's construction finished and it became fully operational in 1888, with an access road added in 1897. The reservoir was built by damming up Raging Brook with a sandstone dam and earthen berm. Though the third water source added to the

Holyoke Water Works The Holyoke Water Works (HWW), sometimes referred to as the Holyoke Reservoir System, is a public drinking water utility and municipal service agency of the City of , which provides clean drinking water to that city. Founded in 1872 by an act of ...

, the reservoir was the first in the system to be created by a dam. Fishing is not allowed in the reservoir to protect against aquatic

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. Following new filtration requirements in the 1980s, the Reservoir was put on standby in the early 1990s. Regulations designed to ensure pure water include the prohibiting of dogs, horseback riding, camping, smoking, sledding and motorcycle riding are among prohibited activities from the reservoir and abutting property. The trail and access road around the reservoir was rededicated in 2018 as the Rudy Lengieza Cross Country Course for a former coach of high schools' boys and girls cross-country

Holyoke Catholic High School Holyoke Catholic High School was a private school, private, Roman Catholic high school in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Holyoke, Massachusetts, United States. It was located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts. In 2015, Holyok ...

who had served in that post for more than 50 years.

References

External links

The Water System

Whiting Street Reservoir
Come to Mount Tom {{authority control Reservoirs in Massachusetts Geography of Holyoke, Massachusetts 1888 establishments in Massachusetts