Diamond Valley Lake is a man-made offstream
reservoir located near
Hemet, California, United States.
It is one of the largest reservoirs in Southern California and also one of the newest. With a capacity of 800,000 acre feet (990,000,000 m3), the lake nearly doubled the area’s surface water storage capacity and provides additional water supplies for drought, peak summer, and emergency needs.
[2]
The
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California began the $1.9 billion construction project in 1995. Filling of the lake, by way of the
Colorado River Aqueduct, began in 1999 and was completed in 2003.
[3] The lake is currently served by the
Inland Feeder.
The
Los Vaqueros Reservoir was completed by the
Contra Costa Water District (CCWD) in 1998 to improve the quality of drinking water for its 550,000 customers in Central and Eastern
Contra Costa County in Northern
California. The name
vaquero is Spanish and means "cowboy" in English. The reservoir is accessible via
Vasco Road from
Brentwood, California and
Livermore, California. An expansion project begun in 2010 raised the height of the dam to increase storage capacity from 100,000 acre-ft to 160,000 acre-ft of water.
New Spicer Meadow Reservoir is a
reservoir in
Stanislaus National Forest in the
Sierra Nevada, in
Tuolumne County, near the
Alpine County line, at an elevation of 6,621 feet (2,018 m). The 189,000 acre foot (233,000,000 m3) reservoir is formed by
New Spicer Meadow Dam on Highland Creek, a tributary of the
Stanislaus River. The 265-foot (81 m) tall
dam is composed of rock-fill and was completed in 1989. Additional water is diverted from the North Fork of the Stanislaus River by the North Fork Diversion Dam and a two-mile (3 km) tunnel. Downstream from the dam, the water continues flowing in Highland Creek until it meets the North Fork of the Stanislaus River.
Calaveras County Water District owns the dam. Water from the reservoir supplies
drinking water and water for
recreation and
irrigation. Also, along with the Northern California Power Agency, the water district sells
electricity from the 5.5-MW
hydroelectric plant at the base of the dam. They also operate the 253-MW Collierville Powerhouse on the North Fork of the Stanislaus River.
The
Olivenhain Dam is a gravity
dam near
Escondido, California. The dam was constructed between 1998 and 2003 as part of
San Diego's Emergency Storage Project with the primary purpose of
water supply for municipal use. It does not sit on a river or stream but is supplied with water by a system of pumps and pipes. The dam is connected to
Lake Hodges and the
Second San Diego Aqueduct. It is constructed of
roller-compacted concrete and is the first of its type in California.
Seven Oaks Reservoir is a
reservoir on the
Santa Ana River in
San Bernardino County, California, about 8 miles (13 km) northeast of the city of
Redlands. The reservoir is formed by
Seven Oaks Dam, which was completed in 1999.
The
United States Army Corps of Engineers built the zoned earth-and-rock-fill
dam at the foot of the
San Bernardino Mountains to protect against
flooding in the eastern portion of the
Greater Los Angeles Area. Its maximum height is 550 feet (168 m) above the pre-existing streambed and 650 feet (198 m) above the lowest portion of the foundation. The reservoir is medium-sized at 147,970 acre feet (182,520,000 m3), though it is a bit large for a reservoir whose sole purpose is flood control, which means that water is released as soon as safely possible, while still slow enough to allow water to seep into the streambed, recharging the
groundwater aquifer. Also, releases are coordinated with
Prado Dam, which is 40 miles (60 km) downstream.