Capilano Lake, lake in British Columbia, Canada
Capilano Lake is a drinking water reservoir in British Columbia, located between North Vancouver and West Vancouver and fed by the Capilano River. At its southern end, Cleveland Dam holds back the water and marks the point where the reservoir meets the river below.
Water from the Capilano valley was first piped into Vancouver in 1889 to meet the needs of a growing settlement. Cleveland Dam was built in 1954 to hold a much larger volume of water and make the supply more reliable for the region.
The name Capilano comes from a Squamish word referring to a small salmon river mouth, a reminder of the Indigenous presence long before the city arrived. Visitors standing near the dam can see how tightly the water supply is woven into the forested landscape that surrounds it.
The reservoir itself is closed to the public to protect the water supply, but Cleveland Dam nearby is freely accessible. From the dam you can walk across on foot and look out over the water and the forest on both sides.
The lake has been used as a filming location for television series including The X-Files and The 4400, where it stood in for fictional locations. It is one of the few places that serves both as a working water supply and as an occasional television backdrop.
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