King George's Reservoir
| King George V Reservoir | |
|---|---|
Looking west across the reservoir
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| Location | London Borough of Enfield |
| Coordinates | 51°39′00″N 0°00′58″W / 51.6499°N 0.0161°WCoordinates: 51°39′00″N 0°00′58″W / 51.6499°N 0.0161°W |
| Type | reservoir |
| Basin countries | United Kingdom |
| Surface area | 170 ha (420 acres) |
| Max. depth | 7.5 m (25 ft) |
| Water volume | 12.45 Gl (2.74×109 imp gal) |
The King George V Reservoir, also known as King George's Reservoir, is located in the London Borough of Enfield and is part of the Lee Valley Reservoir Chain that supplies London with drinking water. The storage reservoir is bordered by Sewardstone and Chingford to the east and Brimsdown and Ponders End to the west, and covers 420 acres (170 hectares), making it the largest in London. The reservoir and the nearby William Girling Reservoir are known collectively as the Chingford Reservoirs, and are owned and managed by Thames Water.
The reservoir was conceived as part of an overall plan for the Lea Valley and was laid before the Royal Commission on Water Supply (Balfour Committee) in 1893. At this time the responsible authority was the East London Waterworks Company. However, under the Provisions of the Metropolis Water Act of 1902, the undertakings of this as well as seven other companies were transferred to the Metropolitan Water Board.
Construction was started in 1908 and completed in 1912. The reservoir was opened by H.M.King George V in 1913, hence the name.
The reservoir was formed by the construction of a continuous embankment on the floodplain of the River Lea at Chingford. An earth embankment divides the reservoir into two compartments that are connected by three large diameter culverts. The external grassed embankment consists of a central puddle clay core with shoulder filling comprising a mixture of river terraced gravels and alluvial deposits.
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