The lineal corridor stretches from Prospect Reservoir to Sydney Water Pipehead at Albert Street, Guildford with the majority of the reserve located in Greystanes, which is a suburb within the Cumberland Council area.

[1] The Canal Reserve is one of the last remaining remnants of natural Cumberland Plain Woodland in the Sydney basin and contains a number of rare and endangered plant specimens.

[4] The scheme, including the Lower Prospect Canal, was designed by Edward Orpen Moriarty and built from 1880 to 1888 by the NSW Board of Water Supply and Sewerage; Kinchela and Metcalfe.

That use came to an end in May 1995, when the Lower Canal was drained and replaced by an underground pipeline from Prospect Reservoir to Pipehead, thus leaving the community with the chance to gain a spectacular parcel of land for recreational purposes.

August 2003 saw the reserve opened to the community with a cycleway–walkway running its full length and connecting with other cycleways that extend across a great part of the Sydney metropolitan area.

The reserve is just over 6.6 km long, starting from Reconciliation Road, Pemulwuy, passing through the suburbs of Greystanes, Smithfield, Merrylands and Woodpark, to its endpoint at Pipehead, Guildford.

The Lower Canal snakes its way on the edge of a natural ridge from the western part slowly falling to an artificial constructed embankment at the eastern end.

Canal Road Park, located on the western outskirts of Greystanes, near Merrylands West, is on an elevated ridge, which provides panoramic views of southwestern Sydney.

[11] This work has proved controversial with the community as a section of the historic canal has been destroyed and a bridge originally promised to traverse the new highway and transitway will now not be built.

[12] A previous heritage listed feature of the old Widemere Quarry railway line had been preserved by building the main access road around the old bridge supports.

This scheme was the outcome of the first major engineering investigation in NSW into the provision of an adequate and reliable water supply to meet the needs of a rapidly growing Sydney.

It marked a major engineering advance from locally sourced to remotely harvested water, obtained from rivers in upland catchment areas, that was stored in dams and transported by weirs, open channels, tunnels and pipelines to its final destination.

The Lower Canal has research potential for its detailed and varied evidence of engineering construction techniques, both the original masonry and the later reinforced concrete upgrade works.

This scheme was the outcome of the first major engineering investigation in NSW into the provision of an adequate and reliable water supply to meet the needs of a rapidly growing Sydney.

It marked a major engineering advance from locally sourced to remotely harvested water, obtained from rivers in upland catchment areas, that was stored in dams and transported by weirs, open channels, tunnels and pipelines to its final destination.

The Lower Canal has research potential for its detailed and varied evidence of engineering construction techniques, both the original masonry and the later reinforced concrete upgrade works.

Large sections of the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve are identified within the biodiversity map of Holroyd Local Environmental Plan 2013 as containing "Remnant Native Vegetation", particularly shale plains woodland.

This scheme was the outcome of the first major engineering investigation in NSW into the provision of an adequate and reliable water supply to meet the needs of a rapidly growing Sydney.

It marked a major engineering advance from locally sourced to remotely harvested water, obtained from rivers in upland catchment areas, that was stored in dams and transported by weirs, open channels, tunnels and pipelines to its final destination.

The Lower Canal is state significant for its reuse, through reversible infilling along its entire length, that has retained the legibility in the landscape of its original water supply function which is capable of further enhancement through interpretation.

Large sections of the Lower Prospect Canal Reserve are identified within the biodiversity map of Holroyd Local Environmental Plan (LEP) 2013 as containing "Remnant Native Vegetation".

The NSW Board of Water Supply and Sewerage was constituted to be the managing authority of the Upper Nepean Scheme and was responsible for the design and construction of the Lower Canal.

The Lower Canal is of state significance for its association with Edward Orpen Moriarty, Engineer in Chief for Harbours and River Navigation, NSW Department of Public Works as the designer and overseer of the Upper Nepean Scheme.

It has the capacity to demonstrate techniques of canal building (often at extremely small grades); engineering practices (especially in the period 1888–1912) and land surveying, all largely within an era of horse and manpower.

[5] The Lower Canal contains a wide range of individual features including an infilled open canal, an aqueduct, an inverted syphon, reservoirs, bridges, sedimentation chambers, pre-cast reinforced concrete panels; culverts, flumes, scour valves and other elements which individually and collectively demonstrate the technologies and engineering approaches in use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in NSW.

The Lower Canal is state significant for its landmark qualities and reuse (through reversible infilling along its entire length) that retains its capacity to demonstrate its original water supply function.

The Lower Canal has state significance for its representative values of the principal characteristics of an extensive, engineered and enduring urban water supply system with the capacity for modification over time.