Mount Eliza Reservoir
Many of us, while attending a conference at Mt Eliza House or wandering around Kings Park, have noticed the Reservoir at Mt Eliza, but do you really know what is there and how important it was to Perth’s water supply and how important it remains to this day.
The Ponds
Perth’s initial reservoir - old Pond #1 was built as part of the Victoria Scheme in 1890 and held 784 thousand gallons (3.6 ML).
Due to the steady growth in demand this was soon added to as follows:
- 1901 - Pond #2 with a much greater capacity of 2.4 million gallons (11 ML);
- 1911 - Pond #3, 10 million gallons (45 ML);
- 1924 - Pond #4, 13.6 million gallons (62 ML); and finally
- 1935 - The “new” Pond #1, 10 million gallons (45 ML), which incorporated the floor and some of the walls of “old” #2 (with old #1 being demolished). With this ponds 3 & 4 were renamed Ponds 2 & 3.
Now even I am confused, the photos explain things better.
The Inlets
Over the years a number of different mains have fed into Mt Eliza:
- 1890 - Original 305mm cast iron main from Victoria Dam – a section of which is up on the third floor;
- 1895 - Duplicated with 525mm riveted steel – a piece of which was recovered last week from the Reservoir (not in use);
- 1925 - 915 mm locking bar from Canning and Wungong Dams – a piece of which is in the front foyer;
- 1961 - 1,370 mm from Serpentine Dam (and later on everything south, including Desal) which is the current inlet.
We also have artesian bores which feed directly into the reservoir. Initially in 1905, three Leederville bores pumped from the JTWC site, and another from the causeway and then in 1931 the Mounts Bay bore – which you can see next to the Old Brewery. Today only Leederville #5 & #6 feed into the reservoir.
The Outlets
Apart from reticulating the CBD, over the years a number of distribution mains have been connected into Mt Eliza to provide water to Perth’s growing suburbs. Many of these are still in service:
- 1905 – 300 mm to Claremont Reservoir;
- 1914 – 460 mm to Mt Hawthorne Reservoir;
- 1918 – 760 mm into North Perth;
- 1924 – 760 mm to Scarborough;
- 1925 – 760 mm to Fremantle;
- 1955 – 760 mm to Swanbourne; and
- 1960 – 1,065 mm to Bold Park Reservoir.
The Zone
Mt Eliza feeds quite a large zone – even today and remains a critical piece of our water infrastructure.
Author: Perry Beor, Water Corporation, September 2022
