Carvins Cove Reservoir

Carvins Cove Reservoir is a drinking water supply reservoir owned and managed by the Western Virginia Water Authority. Carvins Cove Reservoir is situated within Carvins Cove Natural Reserve, a 12,672 acre (51 square km) watershed near Hollins University in Botetourt County (Roanoke, Virginia, USA). In addition to receiving water from the watershed, the reservoir is fed from two underground tunnels that carry overflow from Tinker and Catawba Creeks. This surface water source covers 630 acres (2.55 square km) and stores 6.42 billion gallons of water (24.3 million cubic meters) at full pond. The reservoir's maximum depth is 23 m, and residence time varies between 229-642 days (Doubek et al. 2018 (DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2332). The reservoir is generally considered oligotrophic to mesotrophic, with mean TP concentrations of 9 ug/L, mean TN concentrations of 180 ug/L, mean Secchi depths of 4.0 m, and mean chlorophyll a concentrations of 4 ug/L. High-frequency water quality ensors are being deployed at Carvins Cove Reservoir in spring 2021, overseen by the Carey Lab at Virginia Tech.