Irvine Lake
Irvine Lake is a reservoir in Orange County, California, United States. The lake is on Santiago Creek, located in Silverado, California, east of the city of Irvine and close to Irvine Regional Park.
The lake is formed by the Santiago Dam at the lake's north end, which was built between 1929 and 1931, and was originally called the Santiago Reservoir. The dam was built by the Irvine Company and the Serrano Irrigation District ; it is now owned by the Serrano Water District and the Irvine Ranch Water District and operated by Serrano Water District in conjunction with Orange County Parks. The lake provides drinking water to Villa Park and some parts of Orange, and provides supplementary irrigation water to neighboring ranches.
Access to the lake is via Santiago Canyon Road, the road leading from Orange to Silverado. The Cleveland National Forest is on the northeast side of the lake.
Stocked with largemouth bass, catfish, trout, and crappie, the lake fishery opened to the public in 1941. The land around the lake is owned by the Irvine Company, which leases the fishing, boating, and camping concessions to SWD Recreation Inc.
The lake has not been full since 2011 due to an extended drought, and its levels have been steadily decreasing. As of September 2016, it was at 13 percent of capacity.
As of 2016 Irvine Lake was closed to the public due to financial disagreements between the Serrano water district and the Irvine company.
In August 2019 the lake was successfully reopened to the public for shore fishing and other activities after the OC Parks, Serrano water district and the Irvine company came to a one year agreement to resume operations.
