The Otay River () is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

in southern

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

. The river begins at San Miguel Mountain, flows through the Upper and Lower Otay Reservoirs, and continues on between the southern part of the

Chula Vista Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fifteenth largest city in the state of California, and the 78th-largest city in the United States. The popu ...

and the Otay Mesa West district of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, to its

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carrying ...

San Diego Bay San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of ...

River

The river has a watershed. To its north is the watershed of Sweetwater River, and to its south is the watershed of

Tijuana River , name_etymology = , image = Presa Tij 1.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Dam on the Tijuana River in Mexico. , map = Tijuana River Basin.svg , map_size = 250 , map_caption ...

. Between

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

and

Interstate 805 Interstate 805 (I-805) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in Southern California. It is a bypass auxiliary route of I-5, running roughly through the center of the Greater San Diego region from San Ysidro (part of the ...

is Otay Valley Regional Park. , there is a plan to restore part of its pre- Mexican era estuary on lands utilized by the

South Bay Salt Works The South Bay Salt Works is a salt factory in southern San Diego, near Chula Vista, in the South Bay region of San Diego County, California. Initially operating under the name La Punta Salt Works operations dating back to at least 1871, for ...

Otay Reservoirs

Savage Dam, completed in 1921, forms the

Lower Otay Reservoir Lower Otay Reservoir is a reservoir in San Diego County, Southern California. It is flanked by Otay Mountain to the southeast, the Jamul Mountains to the east, Otay Lakes Road and Upper Otay Reservoir to the north, and the city of Chula Vista to ...

, which is used to supply drinking water to parts of southern San Diego County. The reservoir is also the terminus for Pipeline 3 of the Second San Diego Aqueduct, which delivers water from the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

via the

Colorado River Aqueduct The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Hav ...

. Its predecessor, the

Lower Otay Dam Lower may refer to: * Lower (surname) * Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) * Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни ...

was a "rockhill type", which was completed in 1897; it failed in 1916 following heavy rains. The

Upper Otay Reservoir Upper Otay Reservoir, also called Upper Otay Lake, is a 20-acre artificial lake in San Diego County, California. It was created in 1959 as a hatchery for the propagation and introduction of Largemouth bass, Florida Largemouth bass. The reservoir h ...

is formed by Upper Otay Dam, built in 1901. The reservoir was established as a

hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled cond ...

for the introduction of Florida-strain

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, ...

in 1959. The reservoir was chemically treated first, which killed all of the native

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

. In 1996, the reservoir was opened to

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

, but all fish caught must be released. Since the river is used as a municipal water supply, there is no human contact allowed at either of the Otay Reservoirs. Early testing of manned gliders by noted aviator John J. Montgomery occurred in the region in the late 19th century.

River

Otay Reservoirs

References

Further reading