Blackwater Reservoir
Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox body of water
The Blackwater Reservoir is a reservoir created behind a dam in the mountains above Kinlochleven, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. The dam is Template:Convert long,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> the longest in the Highlands. The reservoir created is approximately Template:Convert long, with a drainage basin of about Template:Convert.<ref name=":0" /> It inundated the Black Water and a chain of three lochs, Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Cite map</ref>
The dam and reservoir was constructed as part of the Kinlochleven hydroelectric scheme in the early 1900s for the British Aluminium Company for the purpose of smelting aluminium and was designed by engineers Patrick Meik and Charles Meik. Chief assistant resident engineer was William Halcrow. It was the first rock fill embankment dam to be constructed in Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Template:Convert high dam was built at an elevation of about Template:Convert in rugged terrain. The crest level of the dam is at Template:Convert.<ref name=":0" /> The reservoir has a surface area of Template:Convert, a mean depth of Template:Convert, and a volume of almost Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
The Kinlochleven hydroelectric scheme was authorised by the Loch Leven Water Power Acts of 1901 and 1904.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>
Construction commenced in 1905, and the scheme was completed four years later in 1909.<ref name=":0" /> The dam was built using hand tools, without the benefit of mechanical earth moving machinery, and has been describedTemplate:By whom as the last major creation of the traditional 'navvy'. A workforce of 2000 to 3000 people, many were Irish navvies, endured the very wet conditions. In one 24 hour period during construction of the dam, Template:Convert of rain fell at Kinlochleven, but this didn't damage the dam.<ref name=":0" />
Most of those building the scheme did not know what it was for, instead they called it "the waterworks". A number of these workers lost their lives constructing the dam; their graves, which are marked by concrete markers, are close to the dam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Navvies' Graveyard is approximately Template:Convert west of the dam.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Convert of concrete aqueduct was constructed contouring around the hillside to above Kinlochleven. Six parallel steel penstock pipelines Template:Convert in diameter then carry the water Template:Convert down the hillside to the powerhouse.<ref name=":1" />
During the First World War, German prisoners worked on laying an aqueduct Template:Convert from Loch Eilde Mhor, to expand the production of the scheme, extending the catchment to Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1" />
The power house and aluminium smelting plant were situated in Kinlochleven, which is adjacent to the sea loch, Loch Leven. The smelter closed in June 2000. The power station now produces electricity for the aluminium smelter in Fort William, supplementing the supply from the Lochaber hydroelectric scheme. Surplus energy is sold to the national grid for public supply.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A small modern hydropower scheme, the River Leven Hydro Scheme, was constructed at the base of the dam in 2021 by Green Highland Renewables.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>