The Central Reservoir as it exists today was built in 1910 and is currently operated by the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). The reservoir was begun in the 1880s by the Contra Costa Water Company, which modified the valley surrounding a small tributary of Sausal Creek to serve as an open-air settling basin, but work was abandoned until a successor, the People’s Water Company, completed the job. At that time it served to maintain pressure in that part of East Oakland's water delivery system. EBMUD assumed all preexisting water infrastructure in 1924. The present steel cover was added in the 1960s, and further upgrades and repairs have been done under EBMUD's ownership. The reservoir is in the process of being replaced by a set of steel tanks that will hold a smaller total volume of water. The problem with the current reservoir is that turnover is slower than desirable, and suitable water conditions are difficult to maintain.
Landslides on the nearby slope of the Sausal Creek floodplain in Fruitvale, popularly ascribed to seepage from the reservoir, have been a problem since the time it was built. Major slides happened in the 1930s and 1950s, which led to parts of McKillop Road collapsing and eventually to the creation of William D. Wood Park. Seepage from Central Reservoir has sometimes been blamed for the slide, but the drainage system that handles seepage does not direct any water in that direction.
Links and References
- Central Reservoir Oakland Geology
- Flooding- Dimond Neighborhood
- McKillop slide and Central Reservoir, a closer look Oakland Geology blog
Note that this is different from Central Reservoir Park and/or Central Reservoir Field.
