Bartley Reservoir

Bartley Reservoir is a reservoir for drinking water in Birmingham, England, operated by Severn Trent Water.^[1] It covers 460,000 square metres (5,000,000 sq ft).

Bartley Reservoir
with Birmingham city centre skyline in the background
Bartley Reservoir
Location	Birmingham
Coordinates	52.42788°N 1.99554°W / 52.42788; -1.99554
Type	Drinking water reservoir
Primary inflows	Elan Aqueduct
Primary outflows	Frankley Water Treatment Works
Catchment area	Elan Valley
Managing agency	Severn Trent Water
Built	1930
Max. length	1.05 kilometres (0.65 miles)
Max. width	450 metres (1,480 ft)
Surface area	0.46 square kilometres (110 acres)
Average depth	5.1 metres (17 ft)
Max. depth	18 metres (59 ft)
Water volume	2.4 million cubic metres (530×10^6 imp gal)
Shore length1	3 km (1.9 miles)
Surface elevation	180 metres (590 ft)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

The reservoir is about 1.05 kilometres (0.65 mi) long, over 450 metres (1,480 ft) wide, and about 18 metres (60 ft) deep at the dam when full. Its surface area is 0.45 square kilometres (0.17 sq mi).

Ecology

The reservoir is known as the place where Bill Oddie did much of his early birdwatching, and features in his books (notably Bill Oddie's Gone Birding) and television programmes. His first ever published article, for the West Midland Bird Club's annual report, was about the birds of the reservoir.^[2]

Leisure

The north shore of the reservoir is home to Bartley Sailing Club and Andrew Simpson Centres Birmingham.^[3][4]

Culture

The reservoir featured in a television programme in 1985, when Bill Oddie was interviewed there by Julian Pettifer for a 50-minute Nature Watch Special: Bill Oddie - Bird Watcher.^[5][6]

See also

• Frankley Reservoir
• Frankley Water Treatment Works