The Silvan Reservoir is located in Silvan about 40 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It has a capacity of 40000 ML. The reservoir is operated by Melbourne Water.

Operations

Silvan is an off-stream storage reservoir, meaning that most of the water is sourced from other reservoirs as the actual catchment area of 9 km2 for Silvan is small. Water for Silvan is transferred from Upper Yarra, O'Shannassy and Thomson (via Upper Yarra) reservoirs. In turn, Silvan directly supplies water to many of Melbourne's eastern suburbs as well as other off-stream storage reservoirs, including Cardinia and Greenvale.

History

A severe drought in 1914 forced the government to search for a new water supply to handle Melbourne's ever-increasing needs. Construction took place between 1926 and 1931. It was officially opened on 7 July 1931. The reservoir was 644 m long, 219 m wide, creating a reservoir that is 43 m deep. In 1983, the wall started to show cracks and remedial works were undertaken. The picnic ground was added to the Silvan Reservoir Park at this time, which is now managed by Parks Victoria.