Bethany Reservoir is located northeast of Livermore, in the northeastern corner of

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...

, USA. It is the northern most part of the

California Aqueduct The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipelines that conveys water collected from the Sierra Nevada and valleys of Northern and Central California to Southern California. Named after California Gov ...

, and receives water pumped by the

Banks Pumping Plant The Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant is located southwest of the Clifton Court Forebay and northwest of Tracy, CA. The plant is the first pumping plant for the California Aqueduct and the South Bay Aqueduct. It provides the necessary fluid hea ...

from

Clifton Court Forebay Clifton Court Forebay is a reservoir in the San Joaquin River Delta region of eastern Contra Costa County, California, southwest of Stockton. The estuary region the forebay is located in is only 1m to 3m above mean sea level. History The b ...

, which in turn receives waters pumped from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. It serves as the forebay for the South Bay Pumping Plant that feeds the

South Bay Aqueduct The South Bay Aqueduct is an aqueduct located in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It conveys water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta through over forty miles of pipelines and canals. It begins in north-eastern Alameda County ...

and the main branch of the California Aqueduct which flows south along the west side of the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

approximately to the

O'Neill Forebay O'Neill Forebay is a Forebay (reservoir), forebay to the San Luis Reservoir created by the construction of O'Neill Dam across San Luis Creek (California), San Luis Creek approximately west of Los Banos, California, United States, on the eastern s ...

at the

San Luis Reservoir The San Luis Reservoir is an artificial lake on San Luis Creek (California), San Luis Creek in the eastern slopes of the Diablo Range of Merced County, California, approximately west of Los Banos, California, Los Banos on California State Rou ...

Characteristics

* Gross capacity:

History

Bethany Reservoir was named after Bethany, a town and ferry in

San Joaquin County San Joaquin County ( ; , meaning " St. Joachim"), officially the County of San Joaquin, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 779,233. The county seat is Stockton. San Jo ...

, which was probably named for the ancient town of

Bethany Bethany (,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac language, Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā''), locally called in Palestinian Arabic, Arabic Al-Eizariya or al-Aizariya (, "Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba,

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

of Lazarus (name), L ...

in the

State of Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. The town of Bethany was originally Mohr Station, named for John Mohr who sold the site to the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

. Because it was confused with a Moore's Station, the name was changed.

Ecology

A 1986 survey for the federally endangered

San Joaquin kit fox The San Joaquin kit fox (''Vulpes macrotis mutica'') is an endangered subspecies of kit fox that was formerly very common in the San Joaquin Valley and much of Central California. As an opportunistic hunter, the San Joaquin kit fox primarily p ...

(''Vulpes macrotis mutica'') in Contra Costa and

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...

Counties found the area around Bethany Reservoir to be the northernmost remaining range for the species. The smallest of the kit fox family, San Joaquin kit fox in this northern part of their range were noted to feed primarily on

California ground squirrel The California ground squirrel (''Otospermophilus beecheyi''), also known as the Beechey ground squirrel, is a common and easily observed ground squirrel of the western United States and the Baja California Peninsula; it is common in Oregon and ...

s (''Otospermophilus beecheyi''). Extirpation of the San Joaquin kit fox from even more northern Contra Costa County is thought due to poisoning of ground squirrels and depredation by

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

(''Vulpes vulpes'') and

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

(''Canis latrans''). Mesopredators of kit foxes, red fox and coyote populations were released by extirpation of

gray wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though grey ...

(''Canis lupus'') from most of California. However a 2003 survey using dogs and aerial surveillance found no remaining San Joaquin kit fox in Contra Costa or Alameda Counties.

Recreation

Bethany Reservoir State Recreation Area surrounds Bethany Reservoir and is a popular place for water-oriented recreation, especially fishing and windsurfing. It also features a bike trail (along the California Aqueduct Bikeway).

References

External links