Salt Springs Reservoir is a reservoir in the eastern portions of

Amador County Amador County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,474. The county seat is Jackson. Amador County, located within California's Gold Country, is known as "The ...

and Calaveras County of California in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

about east-northeast of Jackson. The reservoir is in the

Eldorado National Forest Eldorado National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range, in eastern California. Geography Most of the forest (72.8%) lies in El Dorado County. In descending order of land area the others counties ...

at an elevation of . The reservoir is formed by Salt Springs Dam on the North Fork of the Mokelumne River. The concrete-faced rock-fill dam is tall and was completed in 1931. It is owned by Pacific Gas and Electric and its sole purpose is hydroelectricity production, though limited recreation is available. A short pipeline from the reservoir conveys water to the 44 MW Salt Springs Powerhouse. Some of the water is returned to the river downstream, but much of it flows into the Tiger Creek Conduit, a concrete flume that moves water downstream for use in other powerhouses in PG&E's Mokelumne River Project (FERC Project 137). The dam has a history of settlement problems caused by poor

consolidation Consolidation may refer to: In science and technology * Consolidation (computing), the act of linkage editing in computing * Memory consolidation, the process in the brain by which recent memories are crystallised into long-term memory * Pulmon ...

of the rocks during construction. The concrete face has been cracked many times by the movement, causing leaks. The surface of the dam consists of cracks, craters and shotcrete overlays. It was decided to use a flexible geomembrane to cover the portions of the dam with the greatest leakage. The installation of the membrane was completed in 2005. The dam is being examined as the lower pool in a 380-1,140 MW pumped-storage project with the

Bear River Dam Bear River Dam (National ID # CA00379, also known as the Upper Bear River Dam) is a dam in Amador County, California, due east of Sacramento. The rockfill dam was constructed in with a height of , and a length of at its crest. It impounds th ...

as the upper pool.

References

*{{gnis, 273425
Columbia Gazetteer of North AmericaInternational Water Power and Dam Construction
Reservoirs in Amador County, California Reservoirs in Calaveras County, California Lakes of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Mokelumne River Eldorado National Forest Reservoirs in Northern California Dams completed in 1931 1931 establishments in California

See also

References