San Diego Aqueduct | |
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Coordinates | 33°18′N 117°06′W / 33.3°N 117.1°W |
Begins | First Aqueduct Colorado River Aqueduct 33°49′19″N 116°58′03″W / 33.821870°N 116.967520°W Second Aqueduct Casa Loma Canal Aqueduct 33°47′27″N 117°01′50″W / 33.790740°N 117.030487°W |
Ends | First Aqueduct San Vicente Reservoir 32°55′13″N 116°56′26″W / 32.920401°N 116.940687°W Second Aqueduct Lower Otay Reservoir 32°36′28″N 116°55′40″W / 32.607857°N 116.927769°W |
Official name | San Diego Project |
Maintained by | San Diego County Water Authority |
Characteristics | |
Total length | 225.1 mi (362.3 km) |
Capacity | First Aqueduct 196 cu ft/s (5.6 m3/s) Second Aqueduct canal: 500 cu ft (14 m3) pipeline 3: 250 cu ft (7.1 m3) pipeline 4: 380 cu ft (11 m3) |
History | |
Construction start | First Aqueduct pipeline 1: 1945 pipeline 2: 1952 Second Aqueduct pipeline 3: 1957 pipeline 4: 1968 |
Opened | First Aqueduct pipeline 1: 1947 pipeline 2: 1954 Second Aqueduct pipeline 3: 1960 pipeline 4: 1971 |
Location | |
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.[1] The system comprises the First and Second San Diego Aqueducts, carrying water from the Colorado River west to reservoirs on the outskirts of San Diego. The 70-mile (110 km) First Aqueduct consists of pipelines 1 and 2, which run from the Colorado River Aqueduct near San Jacinto, California, to the San Vicente Reservoir, approximately 15 miles (24 km) northeast of the city. Pipelines 3 and 4 make up the 94-mile (151 km) Second Aqueduct. Together, these four pipelines have a capacity of 826 cubic feet per second (23.4 m3/s). The smaller, 12.5-mile (20.1 km) Fallbrook-Ocean Branch branches from the First Aqueduct into Murray Reservoir. The La Mesa-Sweetwater Branch originates from the First Aqueduct, flowing into the Sweetwater Reservoir.[2]
For decades, 95% or more of the region's water flowed through the water authority's connection with MWD. Today that share is down around 70%, with desalination and water recycling coming on line.