Cardinia Reservoir
Cardinia Reservoir is located in Melbourne's south-east and supplies water to the southern and south-eastern suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula. Water in Cardinia Reservoir is supplied from Thomson and Upper Yarra reservoirs, via Silvan Reservoir.
Construction of Cardinia Reservoir was brought forward by four years after the 1967-68 drought. Work began in 1969 and was completed in 1973. The reservoir filled to its 287,000 megalitre (million litre) capacity in 1977. At the time Melbourne's total storage capacity was 610,000 megalitres. It is an off-stream storage, and receives water via a pipeline from Silvan Reservoir.
Area of catchment
2800 hectares (off-stream storage)
Type of dam
Rolled earthfill and rockfill embankment
Maximum height of main dam from river to crest
85 metres
Length measured along top of dam
1542 metres (main bank only, saddle dams have an additional crest length of 2841 metres)
Surface area (top water level)
1295 hectares