Lake · Saint Lucia
Roseau Reservoir
The Roseau Reservoir is a small man-made lake near the village of Millet in central Saint Lucia. It formed behind the John Compton Dam on the Roseau River, the longest river in the country.
Where is Roseau Reservoir?
Countries on its shores: Saint Lucia.
Largest body of water of: Saint Lucia.
Middle of the lake: 13.90° N, 60.99° W
The story behind it
Saint Lucia has no natural lake of this size, so this small reservoir is the largest body of still water in the country. It covers only about 0.2 square kilometres. The dam that holds it back is 45 metres high and 200 metres long, and it is made of rock with a concrete face. Its main job is to store water for the people of the island. Building began in 1993, but in September 1994 Tropical Storm Debby brought so much rain that the floods broke through the unfinished dam. Workers finished it in October 1995. The dam used to be called the Roseau Dam. Today it is named after John Compton, a former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia who helped to get it built. Later storms, Hurricane Tomas in 2010 and a strong storm in December 2013, caused big landslides into the lake, so it now holds about 30 percent less water.
Find it on the globe
Roseau Reservoir is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is the Roseau Reservoir?
It covers only about 0.2 km², but it is still the largest body of still water in Saint Lucia. When it was built, it could hold about 2.6 million m³ of water.
Why is the dam called the John Compton Dam?
It is named after John Compton, a former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia. He helped to get the dam built.
What did storms do to the lake?
In 1994 a tropical storm broke through the unfinished dam. Later storms caused landslides into the lake, so it now holds about 30 percent less water.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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