Alton Water (or Alton Reservoir) is a manmade

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

located on the

Shotley peninsula The Shotley Peninsula is a rural area east of the A137 Ipswich-Colchester road located between the rivers River Stour, Suffolk, Stour and River Orwell, Orwell in Suffolk, England. The peninsula is named after the settlements of Shotley and Sh ...

. It is the largest in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, with a

perimeter A perimeter is the length of a closed boundary that encompasses, surrounds, or outlines either a two-dimensional shape or a one-dimensional line. The perimeter of a circle or an ellipse is called its circumference. Calculating the perimet ...

of over .

Construction

Due to a shortage of water in the

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

area in the 1960s, a list of twenty potential sites for reservoirs was made, with Alton being the chosen site. The land was mainly farmland, but was also home to a

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

and Alton Hall. The mill was dismantled and reconstructed at the

Museum of East Anglian Life The Food Museum, formerly the Museum of East Anglian Life, is a museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England focused on the farming and food production industries. It consists of an 84-acre estate and 17 historic buildings. History of the Museum Th ...

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

. Construction and the filling with water took 13 years to complete. Alton Reservoir was opened in 1987 and is fed from the River Gipping and bore holes on the north side of the River Orwell. The pumping station and treatment works below the dam is capable of treating up to of water a day. Between 85% and 95% of the water goes to Ipswich and

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...

via the Wherstead reservoir and the Orwell Bridge with the remainder fed to the villages of the Shotley Peninsula and south Suffolk.

Uses

Other uses include: *

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

: in the late 1980s and through the 1990s the reservoir was one of the top match fisheries due to the large shoals of bream and roach. *

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

and

watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sports activities conducted on waterbodies and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...

Birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescop ...

* Great East Swim: a mass participation open water swim.

Cultural references

* The reservoir is nicknamed " Gitche Gumee" by a character in the Strong Winds trilogy of children's novels by British writer Julia Jones.Julia Jones ''The Salt-Stained Book'' Golden Duck, 2011

References

{{Authority control Drinking water reservoirs in England Tourist attractions in Suffolk Reservoirs in Suffolk Babergh District