Loveland Dam

Loveland Dam

Loveland Dam, 2011
Country United States
Location San Diego County, California
Coordinates 32°46′54″N 116°47′39″W / 32.78167°N 116.79417°W / 32.78167; -116.79417Coordinates: 32°46′54″N 116°47′39″W / 32.78167°N 116.79417°W / 32.78167; -116.79417
Status In use
Opening date 1945
Owner(s) Sweetwater Authority
Dam and spillways
Type of dam Concrete thin arch
Impounds Sweetwater River
Height 203 ft (62 m)
Length 765 ft (233 m)
Spillways 1
Spillway type Uncontrolled over-the-crest
Spillway capacity 62,000 cu ft/s (1,800 m3/s)
Reservoir
Creates Loveland Reservoir
Total capacity 25,387 acre·ft (31,314,000 m3)
Catchment area 98 sq mi (250 km2)
Surface area 454 acres (184 ha)

Loveland Dam (also called Sweetwater Falls Dam) is a dam across the Sweetwater River in San Diego County, California. The dam forms long, narrow Loveland Reservoir which stores 25,387 acre feet (31,314,000 m3) of water.[1] It is operated primarily for flood control and municipal water storage in conjunction with downstream Sweetwater Dam but the reservoir is also open to the public for fishing.[2]

The dam stands 203 feet (62 m) high and spans 765 feet (233 m) across the narrow gorge of the Sweetwater River, 2.4 miles (3.9 km) south of Alpine. It is built entirely of concrete and has a thin arch design. Loveland is the younger of the two dams on the Sweetwater River; the other, Sweetwater, was built in 1888 while Loveland was only constructed in 1945.[3] It is named after Chester H. Loveland, president of the California Water and Telephone Corporation, the firm that built it.[4] The Loveland Reservoir is considered a better water storage facility than Sweetwater because of its much smaller surface area (454 acres compared to 960) and comparable capacity, thus it is less vulnerable to evaporation.[5]

Aerial view of Loveland Reservoir from south

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sweetwater Authority Reservoir Levels". Sweetwater Authority. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  2. ↑ "Lake Loveland, southeast California". FindLakes. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  3. ↑ "Loveland Reservoir". Sweetwater Authority. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
  4. ↑ Fetzer, Leland (2005). San Diego County Place Names A to Z. San Diego: Sunbelt Publications. p. 85.
  5. ↑ Reynolds, Richard A. (2008-08-02). "Sweetwater Dam: Then and Now" (PDF). (original not found). Retrieved 2011-01-20.


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