Lake Parramatta

About

Lake Parramatta is a heritage-listed man-made reservoir and a recreational area located in North Parramatta, City of Parramatta, in the Western Sydney region of New South Wales, Australia. The masonry arch-walled dam across Hunts Creek was completed in 1856 to supply water for domestic purposes; and was operational until 1909. The dam has since been decommissioned and the lake and the surrounding nature reserve are a popular recreational area. The precinct contains a 73-hectare (180-acre) nature reserve, the largest bushland remnant surviving in the Parramatta LGA. The 8-square-kilometre (3.1 sq mi) catchment area for Lake Parramatta is bounded by North Rocks Road, Pennant Hills Road and Hunts Creek. The height of the dam wall is 15 metres (49 ft) and it creates a lake with a maximum storage capacity of 485 megalitres (17.1×10^6 cu ft), with a surface area of approximately 10.5 hectares (26 acres). The dam was the twelfth engineered dam built since Roman times 100BC, the first in Australia, and the second arch built universally that involved calculations for its construction. Water from this dam was not reticulated until 1881 when it was required to augment the then dwindling water supply. The dam wall is listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register in recognition of its significance relating to dam technology in Australia arch dams worldwide; and has an indicative lis

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.