San Diego Creek
| San Diego Creek | |
| River | |
 San Diego Creek at Alton Parkway in Irvine
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Orange County |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | La Cañada Wash, San Joaquin Wash, Bonita Creek |
| - right | Bee Canyon Wash, Peters Canyon Wash |
| Source | Santa Ana Mountains |
| - location | El Toro, Lake Forest |
| - elevation | 700 ft (213 m) |
| - coordinates | 33°38′28″N 117°41′03″W / 33.64111°N 117.68417°W |
| Mouth | Upper Newport Bay |
| - location | Near University of California Irvine |
| - elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| - coordinates | 33°38′55″N 117°52′28″W / 33.64861°N 117.87444°WCoordinates: 33°38′55″N 117°52′28″W / 33.64861°N 117.87444°W |
| Length | 15 mi (24 km) |
| Basin | 112.2 sq mi (291 km2) |
| Discharge | for Campus Drive at Irvine, CA |
| - average | 61 cu ft/s (2 m3/s) |
| - max | 43,500 cu ft/s (1,232 m3/s) |
| - min | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
 Map of the Newport Bay watershed, with San Diego Creek highlighted
|
|
San Diego Creek is a 16-mile (26 km) urban waterway flowing into Upper Newport Bay in Orange County, California in the United States. Its watershed covers 112.2 square miles (291 km2) in parts of eight cities, including Irvine, Tustin, and Costa Mesa. From its headwaters in Laguna Woods the creek flows northwest to its confluence with Peters Canyon Wash, where it turns abruptly southwest towards the bay. Most of the creek has been converted to a concrete flood control channel, but it also provides important aquatic and riparian habitat along its course and its tidal estuary.
The watershed is heavily urbanized with master planned residential and commercial development. It accounts for 80 percent of the whole Newport Bay watershed, which has an urban population of over 700,000. There is also agriculture, high-tech industry and 15,700 acres (64 km2) of designated open space. Orange County Great Park (formerly El Toro Marine Corps Air Station), one of the largest urban parks in the US, is also situated in the watershed.
San Diego Creek rises in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains in the residential communities of El Toro, and Lake Forest. Most of its upper course is culverted under subdivisions of El Toro and Irvine. It flows west, fed by tributaries from northern Laguna Canyon and from the Santa Ana Mountains to the north of the creek. After crossing under Interstate 405 near the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, the creek enters an artificial channel and receives Serrano Creek via an underground culvert on the right bank. Directly after the confluence, it passes under California State Route 133. It then flows northwest in a nearly straight course through East Irvine and the City of Irvine, receiving Agua Chinon Creek, Bee Canyon Wash, and the Marshburn Channel from the right. All these tributaries originate in the Santa Ana Mountains and are channelized for most of their lengths through Irvine. A few miles past the confluence with Marshburn Channel, San Diego Creek receives its main tributary, Peters Canyon Creek, on the right bank. The creek begins at Peters Canyon Reservoir in the Santa Ana Mountains and runs about 10 miles (16 km) south-southwest. Although historically it was a smaller tributary, due to present-day flood control purposes, the channel of Peters Canyon is wider than the channel of San Diego Creek when they join.
...
Wikipedia