McMillan Reservoir
| McMillan Reservoir Park | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°55′30″N 77°01′02″W / 38.9251°N 77.0173°WCoordinates: 38°55′30″N 77°01′02″W / 38.9251°N 77.0173°W |
| Type | reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Washington Aqueduct |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 25 acres (10 ha) |
The McMillan Reservoir Park is a reservoir in Washington, D.C. that supplies the majority of the city's municipal water. It was originally called the Howard University Reservoir or the Washington City Reservoir, and was completed in 1902 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The reservoir was built on the site of Smith Spring, one of the springs previously used for drinking water. Washington's earliest residents relied on natural springs but this came to be inadequate as the city's population grew. In 1850, Congress determined that the Potomac River should be the city's principal source of water.
A Congressionally funded engineering study was conducted to determine the most available mode of supplying water to the city. Work and study conducted under the leadership of Lieutenant Montgomery C. Meigs culminated into the development of the Washington Aqueduct which began operations on January 3, 1859. (Initially the system provided water to the city from the Little Falls Branch in Maryland, until the aqueduct construction was completed.) Regular water service from the Potomac River source through the aqueduct commenced in 1864.
In the early years of operation the water was routed through the system's two earlier-built reservoirs, Dalecarlia and Georgetown, which were designed to settle sediment out of the water. In 1873 the Army began construction of a new water supply tunnel, known as the Washington City Tunnel, to provide more storage, sedimentation and distribution capacity for the system. Construction of the tunnel was halted in the 1880s due to a variety of problems including funding shortages, cost overruns, bribery and fraud associated with the construction process. During that period some improvements were made to the Dalecarlia portion of the system, and work on the tunnel finally resumed in 1898. The tunnel was completed in 1901 and the McMillan Reservoir began operation in 1902.
...
Wikipedia