Thomson Reservoir
Thomson Reservoir is located more than 100 kilometres east of Melbourne, near Mount Baw Baw. The Thomson scheme was built in several stages. In the early 1970s many kilometres of tunnel were drilled and blasted through the rock of the Great Dividing Range to allow water from the Thomson River to flow into the Upper Yarra Reservoir. Preliminary work on the Thomson Reservoir dam wall started in 1976 and the massive wall was completed and ready to store water by 1983.
Thomson Reservoir has a capacity of 1,068,000 megalitres (million litres) and is the largest in Melbourne's water storage system. Water from the Thomson Reservoir is transferred through both the Upper Yarra and Silvan reservoirs for distribution to most Melbourne suburbs.
Area of catchment
48,700 hectares
Type of dam
Earth and rockfill embankment
Maximum height of main dam from river to crest
165 metres
Length measured along top of dam
590 metres (main bank only, saddle dam has additional length of 580 metres)
Surface area (top water level)
2230 hectares