San Vicente Dam
| San Vicente Dam | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Location of San Vicente Dam in California | |
| Status | Under modification |
| Construction cost | $2.7 Million USD |
| Owner(s) | City of San Diego |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Spillway type | Ogee, uncontrolled |
The San Vicente Dam is a concrete gravity dam on San Vicente Creek near Lakeside and 25 km (15.5 mi) northeast of San Diego, California. The dam was built between 1941 and 1943 and created San Vicente Reservoir for the purpose of municipal water storage, flood control and recreation. Although the reservoir is fed by run-off, its main source is the First San Diego Aqueduct. Beginning in June 2009, construction to raise the height of the dam by 117 ft (36 m) in order to more than double its reservoir size has been underway and is set for completion in 2013. It will be the largest dam raise in the United States and largest roller-compacted concrete dam raise in the world.[2][3]
History
In the late 19th century, San Diego began constructing dams to help supply municipal water, mitigate drought and control floods in the San Diego River Basin. In 1928, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California was created and charged with transferring water from the Colorado River to southern California but San Diego was excluded from the project. Construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct had begun in 1933 and was completed in 1941. However, construction on the San Vicente Dam began in 1941 with anticipation of San Diego receiving water through the Colorado River Aqueduct.[4] San Diego residents had initially rejected proposals to build the San Vicente Dam in 1939 but after the realization of the city's growing population, voters quickly approved funding for the San Vicente Dam in 1940.[5]
Construction on the dam included pouring concrete into blocks measuring 5 by 50 feet (1.5 by 15.2 m) and incorporating a 275 ft (84 m) wide uncontrolled ogee-type spillway on the dam's downstream face. The outlet works, which release water for municipal use, connected the reservoir intake on the upstream side of the crest with San Vicente Pipelines 1 and 2 via three cast-iron pipes 36 inches (910 mm) in diameter.[3] In 1944, the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) was formed and would soon begin construction on an aqueduct from the Colorado River Aqueduct called the San Diego Aqueduct to supply projected future water needs. Construction on the San Vicente Dam was completed in 1943 but construction on the First San Diego Aqueduct, which was supplied by the Colorado River Aqueduct, did not begin until 1945. It was not until 1947 that the First Aqueduct was complete and the San Vicente Reservoir began to receive its water.[4][6]
Dam raising project
As part of the SDCWA's $1 billion Emergency Storage Project which began in 2000, the San Vicente Dam Raise will increase the height of the 220 ft (67 m) dam by 117 ft (36 m) to 337 ft (103 m). This in turn will more than double the reservoir's current capacity of 90,000 acre⋅ft (110,000,000 m3) by increasing it 152,000 acre⋅ft (187,000,000 m3) to a total of 242,000 acre⋅ft (299,000,000 m3). The original designers had predicted that raising the dam would be necessary in the future and positioned the dam in such a way that its height could be increased by as much as 120 ft along with ensuring its grout curtain was extended for a larger foundation.[3]
In 2006, the SDCWA awarded Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH) with a $20.4 million contract which included developing the raised-dam's design and other engineering services during construction. Construction on the roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dam raise is being managed by Black & Veatch and Parsons and is being done in specific stages.[7] The first stage began in June 2009 and consists of preparing the dam's foundation and was completed in 2010 after which the dam raise began. The construction reached a milestone on October 2012 as the dam reached its final height of 337 feet. The new dam is 117 feet higher than the old one, the tallest dam raise in the United States.[8] The dam raise will be completed in 2013 along with the reservoir's replacement pipeline. The reservoir, which was closed for recreation when construction began, will reopen between 2014 and 2017 depending on when it reaches normal levels.[2] The San Vicente Dam Raise itself is estimated to cost $568 million[9] and will be complimented with a new pumping facility and the San Vicente Pipeline which will connect the San Vicente Reservoir to the Second San Diego Aqueduct. The RCC raised-dam will be the tallest dam raise in the United States along with the tallest of its type in the world.[2][3]
See also
External links
- San Diego County Water Authority – San Vicente Dam Raise
- San Diego County Water Authority – Emergency Storage Project
- Live Construction Web Cams –Topside, Downstream
References
- ^ Hill, Joseph (Winter 2002). "Dry Rivers, Dammed Rivers and Floods: An Early History of the Struggle Between Droughts and Floods in San Diego". The Journal of San Diego History, Volume 48, Number 1. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
- ^ a b c "San Vicente Dam Raise". San Diego County Water Authority. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d Thomas O. Keller, Jeffrey A. Shoaf, Jim Zhou, Jesus M. Meda, and Michael F. Rogers. "Raising San Vicente Dam: Why and How". Penn Energy. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "City of San Diego Water History". The City of San Diego. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
- ^ Pourade, Richard F. "The History of San Diego". CHAPTER 2: Water - the Real Key to a City's Survival. Copley Newspapers. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
- ^ "Hillcrest's Water History". Hillquest. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
- ^ "On the up – the San Vicente Dam raise project". Feature. International Water Power & Dam Construction. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
- ^ "San Vicente Dam Reaches New Full Height of 337 Feet". 17 October 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
- ^ "Fraco Involved in the Tallest Dam Raise in the United States". Fraco Products Ltd. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010.