Sweetwater Dam
| Sweetwater Dam | |
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Sweetwater Dam and reservoir, May 2011
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 Location of the Sweetwater Dam in California
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| Country | United States of America |
| Location | San Diego County, California |
| Coordinates | 32°41′29″N 117°00′29″W / 32.69139°N 117.00806°WCoordinates: 32°41′29″N 117°00′29″W / 32.69139°N 117.00806°W |
| Status | In use |
| Construction began | 17 November 1886 |
| Opening date | 7 April 1888 |
| Construction cost | $234,074.11 |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Concrete gravity-arch |
| Impounds | Sweetwater River |
| Height | 108 ft (33 m) |
| Length | 700 ft (210 m) |
| Width (crest) | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Width (base) | 46 ft (14 m) |
| Spillway type | 7x gate-controlled, service + uncontrolled emergency spillway |
| Spillway capacity | 45,000 cu ft/s (1,300 m3/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Sweetwater Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 28,079 acre·ft (34,635,000 m3) |
| Catchment area | 180 sq mi (470 km2) |
| Surface area | 960 acres (390 ha) |
| Power station | |
| Hydraulic head | 90 ft (27 m) |
| Installed capacity | None |
The Sweetwater Dam is a dam across the Sweetwater River in San Diego County, California. It is located approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of San Diego, 9 miles (14 km) and borders Bonita to the southwest and La Presa to the northeast. The 108-foot (33 m)-high masonry arch dam impounds 960-acre (390 ha) Sweetwater Reservoir.
The dam was first constructed in 1888 as part of a system of reservoirs on San Diego County rivers designed to provide water to irrigate crops along the coast and to supply the city of San Diego and its outlying towns. Over the next few decades the dam was raised and retrofitted several times from its original height of 60 feet (18 m). In 1916, a heavy flood caused both abutments of the dam to fail. Fortunately, the rest of the dam did not sustain heavy damage and it remains in use today serving flood control, water storage and recreation.
Sweetwater Dam is a concrete thick gravity-arch type, straddling the Sweetwater River to form a reservoir capable of holding 28,079 acre feet (34,635,000 m3) of water. It is 108 feet (33 m) high and 700 feet (210 m) long, with a thickness of 46 feet (14 m) at the base. It is equipped with an intake tower on the upstream end connected to a high-pressure conduit that cuts through the base of the dam designed to release water from different depths of the reservoir; if water is released from a lower elevation the outflow will be greater. However, due to the low flow of the river, there is typically only a trickle of water below the dam as it impounds all the inflow from upstream. Occasional large floods do hit the area, so the dam is designed to survive overtoppings and also has a pair of seven-gated spillways capable of handling more than 45,000 cubic feet per second (1,300 m3/s).
The dam is operated in conjunction with Loveland Dam and its reservoir approximately 19 miles (31 km) upstream for flood control purposes. The dam serves as a backup water storage facility for the San Diego metropolitan area today in the case of drought, and provides some local municipal water. The reservoir serves for wildlife management and recreation among other uses.
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Wikipedia