Canning Contour Channel (former)

The Canning Contour Channel is a 16-kilometre (9.9 mi) series of human-made concrete channels and steel and cast-iron pipelines in the Darling Scarp in Western Australia constructed between July 1935 and December 1936. The project was a Depression era public works scheme to carry potable water from just below Canning Dam through the hills around and above Roleystone and Kelmscott to a screening, fluoridation and pumping station near Gosnells by following the natural contours of the Canning Valley – hence it was entirely gravity-fed. Where a tributary valley needed to be crossed, suspended or siphoning pipelines were used. From Gosnells, the water entered the city's pipeline distribution system. The channel supplied drinking water to the metropolitan area of Perth from 1940 to 1975, before becoming redundant after the construction of the Canning Tunnel in the mid-1970s. Until the construction of Serpentine Dam in 1961, Canning Dam and the channel were the main sources of water supply for Perth. Large sections of the disused channel and associated infrastructure remain and provide useful bush-walking routes. In 1950 a section of the channel collapsed at Araluen, causing severe water restrictions in Perth for several weeks.

Canal data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).