Upper Yarra Reservoir

The Upper Yarra Reservoir is a reservoir on the upper reaches of the Yarra River east of Melbourne, about 20 km east of the resort town Warburton in the Australian state of Victoria.

Since the Yarra River at the time of snow melt repeatedly led to major flooding along its middle and lower reaches, began in the 1930s with the planning of a dam. The building permit was issued in the early 1940s, but World War II delayed the start of construction until 1948. The dam, a 90 m high and 610 m long earth and rockfill dam was completed in 1957.

The reservoir has a capacity of 200 million cubic meters and is used today, along with other reservoirs in the Yarra Ranges, mainly for drinking water supply of places in the Yarra Valley and the metropolitan region " Greater Melbourne ". The lake is partially run by injection of water from the Thomson River Reservoir. The catchment area of the lake covers about 33 670 ha, and at full capacity, the lake has a surface area of ​​750 ha

Since 1988, the entire catchment area of the Upper Yarra is classified as drinking water protection area and locked. The Yarra Dam is the last upriver to the public visible point, but is itself except for official business delegation is disabled. The first place where the river flows below the dam, is Reefton, but only at the Warburton surrounded by wooded mountains, river and its banks are generally accessible.