san luis dam , ca

[Detector Man]

President John F Kennedy was there for the ground breaking ceremony in 1963. It holds 2M acre feet of water. It is located right next to a heavily traveled road going east - west to the coastal areas.
The pictures currently shows the lake as FULL to the max.....by October of this year when the level is much lower, there will be islands in the middle...pictures were taken not at high resolution but at high speed The pictures are somwhat misleading.....it is much bigger than what is seen. In the winter and spring its a magical spot, the hills are all green......in the summer welllll its not as pleasant a scenery. The dam is near the top of the pictures out of sight....in case youre wondering, the water is VERY COLD no matter what the air temperature is.

Country United States
Location Merced County, California
Coordinates 37°03′33″N 121°04′29″W[1]
Construction began 1963
Opening date 1968
Owner(s) U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and California Department of Water Resources
Dam and spillways
Type of dam Embankment
Height (foundation) 382 ft (116 m)[2]
Length 18,600 ft (5,700 m)[2]
Dam volume 77,656,000 cu yd (59,372,000 m3)[3]
Reservoir
Creates San Luis Reservoir
Total capacity 2,041,000 acre·ft (2.518 km3)[3]
Catchment area 82.6 sq mi (214 km2)[2]
Surface area 12,700 acres (5,100 ha)
Normal elevation 544 ft (166 m)[2]
Power station
Name William R. Gianelli Powerplant[4]
Commission date 1968[4]
Type Pumping-generating
Hydraulic head 323 ft (98 m) max[4]
Turbines 8 x 53.0 MW Francis turbines[4]
Installed capacity 424 MW[4]

 

[vito]

Nice images and good info.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[BJ in Okla.]

Nice looking Lake,, where are the Boats ???
You did good for shooting thru glass and moving...
Bj

 

[Detector Man]

I go by that dam a couple times of the year and i rarely see boats. People do fish there. There is no huge population in the immediate area....my suspicion is that people go to the coast rather than the lake and thats another 1.5hr west of the lake.
I just did a little research and learned something.....there is a problem with the water apparently....see picture i posted
and here is the wind warnings i mentioned also


Ive NEVER heard of this issue until now.
San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area consists of three lakes: San Luis Reservoir, O'Neill Forebay, and Los Banos Creek Reservoir. Each lake is susceptible to sudden changes in wind and weather conditions. Wind warning and lake closure lights are used on San Luis Reservoir and O'Neill Forebay to alert boaters of the current wind conditions. On San Luis Reservoir, watch for the 3 wind warning and lake closure lights near the Basalt entrance station, Quien Sabe Point, and Romero Visitor Center. On the O'Neill Forebay, wind warning lights are located near the old Medeiros boat ramp and above the South Beach area.

Amber lights signify caution conditions for winds or other concerns.
Red lights indicate the lake is closed to boating and all vessels are required to immediately vacate the lake when the red lake closure lights are on.
Condition Light Color
Okay All lights off
Use caution Amber
Closed to boating Red
There are occasional wind warnings on Pacheco Pass which is right there where i was...in fact the warnings are also on the radio.....of course its not a daily occurance im gonna guess its a seasonal thing.
People from my town usually go to Pine Flat Lake and Millerton Lake. They are about 20 miles from my door. Many drive from L.A. to water ski there also....both are very big lakes

 

[Dave J.]

Yep, that's it. Used to field test metal detectors on the beach at San Luis Forebay (imported granite sand, probably from the other side of the Valley?) back when I used to work for the Old Fisher in Los Banos.

The winds tend to be worst April through August. October is usually fairly calm.

It's the largest off-stream reservoir in the world. It serves as a temporary holding pond as part of the California Aqueduct for transferring water from the Sacramento River to Los Angeles. The Aqueduct begins at Oroville Dam on the Feather River. I worked there in '65 on construction surveys while it was being built. The recent problem they had with spillways doesn't surprise me a bit, especially the emergency spillway where I looked at what they were building and said to myself "what on earth are they thinking? did the engineers never play in the water when they were kids?" Last spring I followed a bit the analysis of how the main spillway failed....... basic fundamentals of hydraulic engineering violated. Mexican laborers around here build rock walls that don't fail during the monsoon, shoulda hired them to design the spillway.

The reservoir also serves as a method for storing energy: release water for producing hydroelectric power during hours of peak demand, and then buy cheap juice during the middle of the night to pump the water back up into the reservoir. The role it plays in electric power management makes it a key hub of the grid. High tension power lines all over the place. Plus....... a lot of windmills taking advantage of the winds and the proximity to grid connection there too.