The Surrey Hills Reservoirs
The
western terminus of the original O'Shannassy Aqueduct was at the Surrey Hills Reservoir No.1, in Canterbury Rd.
This storage facility was completed in 1892, with a capacity of 9 million gallons, servicing
the areas of Box Hill and neighbouring suburbs. Until 1914 it was fed from the Yan Yean Reservoir by pipes.
When the O'Shannassy System was commissioned in 1914, Surrey Hills was then linked to
the O'Shannassy Aqueduct by pipes from Launching Place.
In 1925, a pipe-head reservoir was built at Olinda,with a capicity of 11 million gallons
- this was inserted into the O'Shannassy System, and carried water to a smaller storage dam at Mitcham, then to Surrey
Hills.
In 1929, a second Surrey Hills storage reservoir was built, of 15 million gallons capacity,
a short distance away from the No. 1 facility, also fed from the O'Shannassy scheme. It is on the hill near Elgar Rd, and
incorporates the Water Tower,the first to be built by the MMBW. This imposing structure,a local landmark, resembles the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, but unlike the Italian tower, it is vertical!
Both reservoirs operate to this day, managed by Melbourne Water.
