Frankley Reservoir

Frankley Reservoir
A large reservoir with a low wall running around the edge
Frankley Reservoir is located in West Midlands county
Frankley Reservoir
Frankley Reservoir
LocationBirmingham
Coordinates52°25′14″N 1°59′55″W / 52.42069°N 1.99849°W / 52.42069; -1.99849
TypeDrinking water
Primary inflowsElan aqueduct
Primary outflowsFrankley Water Treatment Works
Birmingham Corporation Water Act 1892
Act of Parliament
Long titleAn Act for empowering the corporation of the city of Birmingham to obtain a supply of water from the rivers Elan and Claerwen and for other purposes.
Citation55 & 56 Vict. c. clxxiii
Dates
Royal assent27 June 1892

Frankley Reservoir is a semi-circular reservoir for drinking water in Birmingham, England, operated by Severn Trent Water.[1] Its construction was authorised by the Birmingham Corporation Water Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. clxxiii) It was built by Birmingham Corporation Water Department to designs by Abram Kellett of Ealing in 1904.[2]

It contains 900,000 cubic metres (200,000,000 imp gal) of water received from the Elan Valley Reservoirs,[2] 117 km (73 mi) away, in Wales, which arrives via the Elan aqueduct, by the power of gravity alone, dropping 52 metres (171 ft) – an average gradient of 1 in 2,300.

Before 1987 it was leaking 540 litres (120 imp gal) per second. In that year ground-penetrating radar was used successfully to isolate the leaks.[2]

  1. ^ Environment Agency public register of Large Raised Reservoirs, as at 2 November 2020, via Boswarva, Owen. "Large Raised Reservoirs". Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Radar". Penguin Dictionary of Civil Engineering. Penguin Books. p. 347.