The Spring Creek Reservoir is the

artificial lake 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 ...

created by the construction of the

Spring Creek Dam Spring Creek Debris Dam is an earthfill dam on Spring Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River, in Shasta County in the U.S. state of California. Completed in 1963, the dam, maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, serves primarily to coll ...

across Spring Creek in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest of

Shasta County, California Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a County (United States), county in the Northern California, northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from the 2010 c ...

, adjacent to Keswick. The reservoir is used mostly for flood control storage, and is rarely filled to its capacity. During the dry season, water from Spring Creek pools in a small pond retained behind the dam. Prior to the Iron Mountain Treatment Plant, the water in the reservoir was contaminated acidic mine waste in the reservoir space, and the water was acidic. When flows from the

Shasta Dam Shasta Dam (called Kennett Dam before its construction) is a concrete arch-gravity dam across the Sacramento River in Northern California in the United States. At high, it is the eighth-tallest dam in the United States. Located at the north e ...

, upstream on the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

, were sufficient to flush contaminated water away, water held in the reservoir was released through the outlet works into the

Keswick Reservoir Keswick may refer to: Places Australia *Keswick, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide **Keswick railway station, Adelaide **Adelaide Parklands Terminal (formerly Keswick Rail Terminal) Canada *Keswick, Edmonton, Alberta *Keswick, Ontario * Keswic ...

and the Sacramento River. Despite this operation strategy, the reservoir was eventually deemed inadequate for the watershed, and can be filled to capacity by a single heavy storm event. Uncontrollable spills frequently poured into the Sacramento River during floods, through the crest spillway of the dam, which lacks gates. As a result, numerous

fish kill The term fish kill, known also as fish die-off, refers to a localized die-off of fish populations which may also be associated with more generalized mortality of aquatic life.University of Florida. Gainesville, FL (2005) ''Plant Management in Fl ...

s have occurred during these sudden releases of contaminants, a major one of which was in 1969. At this time, the water is neither contaminated with mine waste or acidic.

References

* *

External links

* {{authority control Reservoirs in Shasta County, California Shasta-Trinity National Forest Reservoirs in California Reservoirs in Northern California

See also

References

External links