San Vicente Dam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids San Vicente Dam |
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San Vicente Dam in 1950
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 Location of San Vicente Dam in California
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| Location | Lakeside, San Diego County, California. |
| Coordinates | 32°54′44″N 116°55′28″W / 32.91222°N 116.92444°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 1941 |
| Opening date | 1943 |
| Construction cost | $2.7 Million USD |
| Owner(s) | City of San Diego |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Concrete gravity |
| Impounds | San Vicente Creek |
| Height | 337 ft (103 m) |
| Length | 980 ft (300 m) |
| Spillway type | Ogee, uncontrolled |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | San Vicente Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 90,000 acre⋅ft (110,000,000 m3) |
| Catchment area | 75 sq mi (190 km2) |
| Surface area | 1,100 acres (4.5 km2) |
The San Vicente Dam is a huge wall of concrete built across San Vicente Creek in California. It's located near Lakeside, about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) northeast of San Diego. This important dam was built between 1941 and 1943. It created the San Vicente Reservoir, which holds water for the city, helps control floods, and offers a place for fun activities.
While some water flows into the reservoir from rain and runoff, its main water supply comes from the First San Diego Aqueduct. In 2009, work began to make the dam much taller. They added 35.6 meters (117 feet) to its height! This project more than doubled the reservoir's size. It's the biggest dam raise in the United States and the largest one using a special concrete called roller-compacted concrete anywhere in the world. The dam raise was finished in early 2014.
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Building the San Vicente Dam
In the late 1800s, the city of San Diego started building dams. These dams helped supply drinking water, reduce the effects of drought (when there's not enough rain), and control floods in the San Diego River area.
In 1928, a group called the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was formed. Their job was to bring water from the Colorado River to Southern California. However, San Diego was not part of this first plan. Construction on the Colorado River Aqueduct began in 1933 and finished in 1941.
Even though San Diego wasn't initially included, construction on the San Vicente Dam started in 1941. This was because people hoped San Diego would soon get water from the Colorado River Aqueduct. In 1939, San Diego residents first said no to building the dam. But as the city's population grew, voters quickly approved the money for the dam in 1940.
How the Dam Was Constructed
Building the dam involved pouring concrete into large blocks. These blocks were about 1.5 meters (5 feet) wide and 15 meters (50 feet) long. The dam also has a wide, uncontrolled spillway on its downstream side. A spillway is like a giant overflow drain that lets extra water out safely.
The dam's outlet works are pipes that release water for the city to use. These pipes connect the reservoir to the San Vicente Pipelines. In 1944, the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) was created. This group soon began building another aqueduct, called the San Diego Aqueduct, to bring even more water for future needs.
The San Vicente Dam was completed in 1943. However, the First San Diego Aqueduct, which brings water from the Colorado River, didn't start being built until 1945. It wasn't until 1947 that the First Aqueduct was finished. That's when the San Vicente Reservoir finally began to receive its main water supply.
Making the Dam Taller
Why the Dam Was Raised
The San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) started a big project in 2000 called the Emergency Storage Project. This project cost $1 billion. As part of it, the San Vicente Dam was made much taller. Its original height was about 67 meters (220 feet), and they added 35.6 meters (117 feet) to it. Now, the dam stands 102.7 meters (337 feet) tall.
This huge increase in height more than doubled the reservoir's original capacity. It went from holding 90,000 acre-feet of water to a total of 242,000 acre-feet. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre of land one foot deep. That's a lot of water!
The engineers who first designed the dam had a smart idea. They predicted that the dam might need to be taller in the future. So, they built it in a way that allowed its height to be increased by as much as 36.5 meters (120 feet). They also made sure its foundation was strong enough for a bigger dam.
The Dam Raise Project
In 2006, the SDCWA hired a company called Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH). They were given a $20.4 million contract to design the taller dam and help with engineering during construction. The actual construction of the roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dam raise was managed by Black & Veatch and Parsons.
The work was done in different steps. The first step began in June 2009. This involved preparing the dam's foundation, and it was finished in 2010. After that, the actual dam raising began. A big moment happened in October 2012 when the dam reached its final height of 102.7 meters (337 feet). The new dam is 35.6 meters (117 feet) higher than the old one. This makes it the tallest dam raise in the United States.
The dam raise was completed in early 2014. New pipelines for the reservoir will be ready by 2015. The reservoir was closed for fun activities when construction started. It is expected to reopen between 2014 and 2017, depending on when its water levels return to normal. The San Vicente Dam Raise itself cost about $568 million. It also includes a new pumping station and the San Vicente Pipeline. This pipeline connects the San Vicente Reservoir to the Second San Diego Aqueduct. The RCC raised-dam is not only the tallest dam raise in the U.S. but also the tallest of its kind in the world.
