Accidentally Reservoir: how a suburb got its name

One of Melbourne Water's great treasures lent its name to the suburb of Reservoir and features in local history podcast Storytowns created for Metro Trains Melbourne. 

“Preston Reservoir was built to connect with the much larger Yan Yean Reservoir upstream and solve a tricky problem,” said Paul Balassone, Manager Heritage Services, Aboriginal Engagement & Community Connection at Melbourne Water. 

Yan Yean Reservoir sits at around 300 meters above Melbourne which provides hydraulic pressure to easily pump the water, but it was too much for the old cast-iron, lead-joined pipes.  

“The difference in elevation is roughly the height of the Eureka Tower and this massive pressure caused the pipes to burst,” said Paul, who gave an interview to Storytowns. 

The Public Works Department built Reservoir No. 1 to break that pressure, create extra storage, and to harvest rainwater from the Great Dividing Range. 

Designed to fill overnight, Reservoir No. 1 ensured a consistent supply of water to the growing city throughout the late nineteenth century. Though it is no longer in regular use, two further basins made from concrete were built in 1909 and 1913 and are still operational. 

“The old, open basin was an excavated, rock-lined site and there was a risk of seepage,” said Paul.

“The newer basins are much more like our modern technology, so they continue to play a part in making our city a livable place as they have done now for generations.” 

Having proved that they could successfully regulate the water supply at Preston Reservoir, this pioneering design was used as the model for a further 38 service reservoirs around Melbourne still in use today. 

Preston Reservoir represents 170 years of technical innovation and responsible stewardship that continue to support our growing city.

Today, as then, water is essential to our way of life and Melbourne Water now supplies around 1,250 million litres of drinking water daily to over 5 million Melburnians.  

“Legacy assets like the Preston Reservoir remind us of how long we have been working to make Melbourne a livable place and having a reliable water supply is a very big part of that," said Paul.  

Storytowns has produced a podcast episode about each stop on the Mernda line and you can listen to Paul’s interview about the history of Reservoir here.