| Morena Dam | |
|---|---|
 View of Morena Reservoir from near the dam, looking upstream, c. 1918 | |
  Location of Morena Dam in California | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | San Diego County, California |
| Coordinates | 32°41′07″N 116°32′51″W / 32.68528°N 116.54750°W |
| Purpose | Water supply |
| Construction began | 1896 |
| Opening date | 1912 |
| Owner(s) | City of San Diego |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Rockfill[1] |
| Impounds | Cottonwood Creek |
| Height | 177 ft (54 m)[1] |
| Length | 550 ft (170 m)[1] |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Morena Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 50,694 acre⋅ft (62,530,000 m3)[2] |
| Catchment area | 114 sq mi (300 km2)[1] |
| Surface area | 1,475 acres (597 ha)[1] |
| Normal elevation | 3,039 ft (926 m) (spillway)[3] |
Morena Dam is a rockfill dam across Cottonwood Creek, a tributary of the Tijuana River in southern San Diego County, California. Originally completed in 1912 and raised several times afterward, the dam is one of the oldest components of the city of San Diego's municipal water system,[2][4] providing between 1,600 to 15,000 acre-feet (2,000,000 to 18,500,000 m3) of water per year.[3] It is one of the few facilities in the San Diego water supply system that relies entirely on local runoff.
There is a small lakeside settlement just east of Morena Reservoir called Morena Village. It makes up part of the census-designated place (CDP) of Campo.
- ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference
NPDPwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b "Morena Reservoir". City of San Diego. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
citywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Hill, Joseph (2002). "Dry Rivers, Dammed Rivers and Floods: An Early History of the Struggle Between Droughts and Floods in San Diego". The Journal of San Diego History. 48 (1). San Diego History Center. Retrieved 2014-06-14.