Whiting Street Reservoir

42°14′29″N 72°38′10″W / 42.241509°N 72.636026°W / 42.241509; -72.636026PurposeDrinking water supplyStatusOperationalOpening date1888Owner(s)City of HolyokeOperator(s)Holyoke Water WorksReservoirTotal capacity479×10^⁶ US gal (1.81 Gl)Catchment area897 acres (363 ha)Surface area114 acres (46 ha)Maximum length6,280 ft (1,910 m)Normal elevation387 ft (118 m)^[1]Website
http://www.holyoke.org/departments/water-works/

Whiting Street Reservoir, often shortened as Whiting Reservoir a Class I hazard reservoir, is an auxiliary drinking supply for the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts. The reservoir has an impound capacity of more than 479 million gallons of water and a safe yield of 1.5 million US gallons (5,700 m³) of water per day.^[2]

The reservoir's construction finished and it became fully operational in 1888, with an access road added in 1897. The reservoir was built by damming up Raging Brook with a sandstone dam and earthen berm. Though the third water source added to the Holyoke Water Works, the reservoir was the first in the system to be created by a dam.^[3] Fishing is not allowed in the reservoir to protect against aquatic invasive species. Following new filtration requirements in the 1980s, the Reservoir was put on standby in the early 1990s.^[4]

Regulations designed to ensure pure water include the prohibiting of dogs, horseback riding, camping, smoking, sledding and motorcycle riding are among prohibited activities from the reservoir and abutting property.^[5] The trail and access road around the reservoir was rededicated in 2018 as the Rudy Lengieza Cross Country Course for a former coach of high schools' boys and girls cross-country Holyoke Catholic High School who had served in that post for more than 50 years.^[6]

References

External links

• The Water System, Holyoke Water Works
• Whiting Street Reservoir, Come to Mount Tom