Water Reservoir

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, such examples in the USA. Almost every manmade reservoir that is a primary water supply source for USA cities also serves as a major recreation area, i.e., fishing, water skiing, boating, canoeing, ski boating, swimming, etc. They also provide important fish and wildlife habitats. However, USA reservoirs are usually quite large, and are as deep as engineeringly feasible at each location to accommodate as large a volume of water as possible----they range in size from less than 100 acres (typically in the eastern US) to as large as many square miles (the big Western US reservoirs). Water from these reservoirs goes through typical (for USA) treatment facilities before becoming household water supplies. USA reservoirs also often serve other purposes at the same time as being urban water supplies and recreational sources---they may also be used for hydroelectric generation, for floodflow storage, and farmland irrigation. They may also be locations of important headwater and side channel wetland areas, and their shorelines may have vacation or permanent homes located on them. The US Army Corps of Engineers owns and/or manages nearly 500 of these reservoirs, and a number of others are owned and managed by other federal, state, county, and city agencies.