Dry Canyon Reservoir is a small

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

formed by an embankment dam on Dry Canyon Creek in the foothills of the

Sierra Pelona Mountains The Sierra Pelona, also known as the Sierra Pelona Ridge or the Sierra Pelona Mountains, is a mountain ridge in the Transverse Ranges in Southern California. Located in northwest Los Angeles County, the ridge is bordered on the north by the San An ...

of northern

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, just north of the city of

Santa Clarita Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17th ...

. It was designed as a part of the

Los Angeles Aqueduct The Los Angeles Aqueduct system, comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system, built and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The Owens Valley ...

system.

History

Constructed from 1910 to 1912, the lake with a surface elevation of approximately above sea level regulated the flow of water from the irregular flow discharged from the power plants in

San Francisquito Canyon San Francisquito Canyon is a canyon created through erosion of the Sierra Pelona Mountains by the San Francisquito Creek, in Los Angeles County, Southern California. Geography The canyon cuts through the Sierra Pelona Mountains, which are centr ...

. The incoming water from San Francisquito came from Tunnel 77 and the outgoing water went out Tunnel 78. Water from the lake was distributed via the Los Angeles Aqueduct to the northern portion of the

Greater Los Angeles Area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

Draining the Reservoir

Following damages incurred by the dam itself during the

1952 Kern County earthquake The 1952 Kern County earthquake occurred on July 21 in the southern San Joaquin Valley and measured 7.3 on the moment magnitude scale. The main shock occurred at 4:52 am Pacific Daylight Time (11:52 UTC), killed 12 people, injured hundreds mor ...

and growing concerns over its structural integrity, the reservoir was drained in 1966. Since the early 1970s, efforts had been made to refill the reservoir but these plans have since been abandoned due to high costs. In the decades that followed, the suburban communities of

had grown northward to fill the narrow valley just downstream. The course of Dry Canyon Creek south of the reservoir was then funneled down a concrete wash to prevent flooding of the surrounding communities.

References

{{authority control Reservoirs in Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles Aqueduct Sierra Pelona Ridge Reservoirs in California Reservoirs in Southern California 1912 establishments in California Santa Clarita, California

History

Draining the Reservoir

See also

References