San Diego Aqueduct


The San Diego Aqueduct, or San Diego Project, is a system of four aqueducts in the U.S. state of California, supplying about 90 percent of the water supply for the city of San Diego. 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 First Aqueduct consists of the pipelines 1 and 2, which run from the Colorado River Aqueduct near San Jacinto, California, to the San Vicente Reservoir, approximately northeast of the city. Pipelines 3 and 4 make up the Second Aqueduct. Together, these four pipelines have a capacity of. The smaller, Fallbrook-Ocean Branch branches from the First Aqueduct into Morrow Reservoir. The La Mesa-Sweetwater Branch originates from the First Aqueduct, flowing into the Sweetwater Reservoir.

Construction

The First Aqueduct was designed by the Bureau of Reclamation and constructed from 1945 to 1947 by the Navy Department. Pipeline 2, of the First Aqueduct, was built by the Bureau of Reclamation from 1952 and 1957, roughly paralleling Pipeline 1. In 1957, the construction of Pipeline 3 of the Second Aqueduct was begun by the Metropolitan Water District, completing it in May 1960. In 1968, the construction of Pipeline 4, of the Second Aqueduct, began. Pipeline 4 was completed in 1971. In 2005, the San Diego County Water Authority began construction on the, San Vicente Pipeline, connecting the San Vicente Reservoir to the Second Aqueduct. Construction on the project was complete completed in 2010.

First Aqueduct

The First Aqueduct, built of two parallel precast concrete pipes, ranging in diameter from, branches from the Colorado River Aqueduct in San Jacinto, California just north of the San Jacinto River, continuing south to its terminus at San Vicente Reservoir. There are seven tunnels on the First Aqueduct, which range in length from. The total capacity of the First Aqueduct is.

Second Aqueduct

The Second Aqueduct is long, beginning at the Colorado River Aqueduct, flowing into Lake Skinner and then into Lower Otay Reservoir near San Diego. In the first from the Colorado River Aqueduct to Lake Skinner, Pipeline 3 consists of an open canal handling approximately. The remaining consist of pre-stressed diameter concrete pipe and steel pipe. Pipeline 4 consists of pre-stressed concrete pipe with a capacity of.