Ben Crom Reservoir is a
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 in the
Mourne Mountains
The Mourne Mountains ( ; ), also called the Mournes or the Mountains of Mourne, are a predominantly granite mountain range in County Down in the south-east of Northern Ireland. They include the highest mountain in all of Ulster, Slieve Donard ...
near
Kilkeel
Kilkeel () is a small town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish on the Irish Sea coast of County Down, Northern Ireland. It is the main fishing port on the Down coast, and its harbour is home to the largest fishing fleet in Northern Irel ...
,
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
, Northern Ireland. Along with
Silent Valley Reservoir
The Silent Valley Reservoir is a reservoir located in the Mourne Mountains near Kilkeel, County Down in Northern Ireland. It supplies most of the water for County Down, surrounding counties and most of Belfast. It is owned and maintained by Northe ...
, which is situated further down the Kilkeel River valley, it supplies water for County Down, surrounding counties and most of
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
. It was constructed between 1953 and 1957, as the final part of the Mourne scheme to provide water to Belfast which started with the passing of the Belfast Water Act in 1893.
Ben Crom is a mass
gravity dam
A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is ...
, meaning it is made of concrete and designed so that the dam's own weight stabilises it against the force of the water. The middle of the structure consists of
mass concrete with granite plumbs weighing up to 5 tonnes. The outer face of the dam was made with precast concrete blocks. The project cost approximately £1 million to build and employed 186 people.
In 2012
Northern Ireland Water
Northern Ireland Water Limited is the main water company in Northern Ireland.
Formerly an executive agency within Northern Ireland Executive, it became a government-owned company on 1 April 2007. The company now sits as an Agency within the ...
carried out refurbishments at Ben Crom as part of a £1.6 million scheme to maintain and improve a number of reservoirs in Northern Ireland.
References
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Reservoirs in County Down