Elk Lake 1896 Victoria BC Waterflow Filterbeds
Monday, November 9th, 2009
At present Elk Lake is not used as a water supply source; however, between 1873 and 1920 the City of Victoria BC Canada used Beaver Lake as a source of domestic water.
To meet the demand, in 1872 the chief engineer for the province proposed a solution. If the city built a dam on Colquitz Creek, the levels of Elk and Beaver lakes would rise by two metres, turning them into one big reservoir. (See map at right.) The city approved the $100,000 project, and ordered 13 kilometres of cast-iron pipe which had to be shipped from England to channel the lake water down to Victoria. (You can see riveted sections of this old water main near the park entrance at Pipeline Road, as shown in the bottom photo.) The new water system opened in 1875.
Victorians complained that small fish and tadpoles were coming out of their household taps, so in 1896 the city built vast sand-lined filter beds to purify the water. (The filter beds are still visible beside the parking lot at the south end of Beaver Lake.)
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