Vartry Reservoir
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| Vartry Reservoir Taiscumar Fheartraí |
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| Location | County Wicklow |
| Coordinates | |
| Lake type | reservoir |
| Primary outflows | River Vartry |
| Basin countries | Ireland |
Vartry Reservoir (Irish: Taiscumar Fheartraí) is a reservoir at Roundwood in County Wicklow, Ireland. Between 1862 and 1868 the lower reservoir was formed by constructing an earthen dam across the valley of the River Vartry after a Dublin Water Works Committee was established to develop a new water supply to Dublin and suburbs. [1] It was chaired by Dr. John Gray who actively promoted what would become the "Vartry scheme", which was formally opened on June 30 1863.
The Vartry Reservoir scheme involved the partial redirection and damming of the Vartry river, the building of a series of water piping and filtering systems (and related public works) to carry fresh water to the city. This work was particularly important in the improvement of conditions in the city, and to public health, as it improved sanitation and helped reduce outbreaks of cholera, typhus and other diseases associated with contaminated water.
This reservoir has a capacity of 11.3 billion litres and a maximum depth of 18.3 meters.
A second embankment, 3.5 km upstream was completed in 1923 to form the Upper Reservoir which has a capacity of 5.6 billion litres and a maximum depth of 13.4 metres.
The water is piped from Vartry to a large open service reservoir in Stillorgan in the southern suburbs of Dublin.
The reservoir is operated by Dublin City Council. Ref:[3]
![[3]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vartry_4128w.jpg){kind=link}