LAKE CONSTRUCTION & TECHNICAL DETAILS
Construction of the lake began in 1996 and was completed in 2006 with the rounding-off of the return/warm-up channel.
Fertilizer use in the former arable fields was restricted for many years before construction began, to ensure high-quality water and low ground-chemical content. The lake holds some 350,000,000 gallons of water = approximately 1,600,000 cubic metres and is 2,200 metres long, has eight lanes, each 13.5 metres wide, and is a minimum of 3.5 metres deep – the depth needed to permit racing boats to perform to their optimum efficiency.
Some 4,500,000 tonnes of sand and gravel, 1,970,000 cubic metres of topsoil and subsoil and 585,000 cubic metres of basal clay were extracted during construction. Local disturbance was minimised by using a two-mile-long conveyor belt from a corner of the site to take material extracted to a remote collection point.
The parallel return/warm-up channel, in part five lanes wide, has a minimum water depth of 2.5 metres.
The lake water is fed from underground aquifers, percolating through a natural gravel filter, with weeds being discouraged by natural methods, including a particular breed of carp, and algae growth by using an underwater ultrasound system.
THE PARK AND ARBORETUM
Over 30,000 trees - mostly native species but with a growing collection of ‘specimen’ trees - have been planted in the park and arboretum in groups, avenues and shelter belts, with resultant vistas including one of Windsor Castle from ‘The Millennium Avenue’ of lime trees. Some open areas between the tree groups are left uncut in the summer to encourage wild flowers and wild life, which includes many bird species
An intriguing ‘armillary sphere’ containing a sundial was presented to Dorney Lake in 2006 by the gravel-extracting consortium to mark their 10 years of Lake construction. The sphere’s Latin inscription, devised by Eton College scholars, is ‘Homines contra homines hic inter harenam acquamque saxumque sed omnes contra tempus contendunt’ which means ‘Men against men here amongst the sand and water and rock but all struggle against time’.