El Capitan Reservoir is a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

in central

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

. It is in the

Cuyamaca Mountains The Cuyamaca Mountains (Kumeyaay language, Kumeyaay: ''‘Ekwiiyemak''), locally the Cuyamacas, are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges in San Diego County, California. The mountain range runs roughly northwest to southeast. The Laguna Mount ...

, about northeast of the city of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

and two miles northwest of the town of

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

. The reservoir is formed by

El Capitan Dam El Capitan Dam is an embankment dam or hydraulic fill dam on the San Diego River in San Diego County, California. The dam forms the El Capitan Reservoir and serves mainly to supply water to the city of San Diego, California, San Diego as well as ...

on the

San Diego River The San Diego River is a 52 mi (84 km) river in San Diego County, California. It originates in the Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian, then flows to the southwest until it reaches El Capitan Reservoir, the second-largest reservo ...

and has a capacity of . The

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

is composed of

hydraulic fill Hydraulic fill is a means of selectively emplacing soil or other materials using a stream of water. It is also a term used to describe the materials thus emplaced. Gravity, coupled with velocity control, is used to effect the selected depositio ...

and was completed in 1934. The dam is owned by the city of San Diego (Originally owned by the Kumeyaae tribe) and its primary purpose is to supply

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

. In order to make way for the construction of the dam, the native

Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as 'Iipai-Tiipai or by the historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Uni ...

people were forcibly relocated to the Capitan Grande Reservation. The amount of runoff that enters the reservoir varies considerably. During a 25-year period, it ranged from per year (39 to 2,700 L/s). The water in the reservoir usually consists of runoff from above the dam, but in years of

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

, water is sometimes transferred to it from

San Vicente Reservoir San Vicente Reservoir is a reservoir created by San Vicente Dam in San Diego County, California. It is located in the Cuyamaca Mountains, approximately north of Lakeside off California State Route 67. Description The reservoir is formed by im ...

, which is the terminus of the First

San Diego Aqueduct The San Diego Aqueduct is a system of four aqueducts in the U.S. state of California, supplying about 70 percent of the water supply for the city of San Diego. The system comprises the First and Second San Diego Aqueducts, carrying water from th ...

. According to the City of San Diego's General Plan Seismic Element, Division of Safety of Dams engineers "restricted the maximum water surface of El Capitan Dam to an elevation 30 feet lower than spillway, although permitting the temporary storage of storm inflows above the specified level for short periods." This requirement was added after the

1971 San Fernando earthquake The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude o ...

, where "a loss of about 30 feet of dam height resulted" at the

Lower Van Norman Dam The Van Norman Dams, also known as the San Fernando Dams, were the terminus of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, supplying about 80 percent of Los Angeles' water, until they were damaged in the 1971 San Fernando earthquake and were subsequently decommi ...

due to "liquefaction of the hydraulic fill on the upstream side of the embankment". There is limited recreation available at the reservoir. Boating is limited to canoes, kayaks, and row boats. Water contact such as personal water craft, standup paddle boarding, and

water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...

are not permitted.

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

is allowed all year, but the recreation is closed on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and the first Friday of each month. There is no camping at the lake. The nearest camping site is away at

Lake Jennings Lake Jennings is a water supply reservoir in Lakeside in San Diego County, California. Recreation People can have picnics at Lake Jennings. The campground at Lake Jennings Park has a variety of campsites available, including hookups and primit ...

or away at Viejas Campground. El Capitan Reseviour 1

References

City of San Diego
* * *
NOAA images, Van Norman Dam
{{authority control Reservoirs in San Diego County, California San Diego River Cuyamaca Mountains East County (San Diego County) Reservoirs in California Reservoirs in Southern California

See also

References