Huge Reservoir Project 1 Year From Fill Date

Construction of the largest reservoir in Southern California is approaching two-thirds completion in a onetime farming valley near Hemet. The $2-billion Metropolitan Water District project is intended to hold a six-month supply of water for customers from San Diego to Santa Monica should a catastrophic earthquake along the San Andreas Fault sever the canals that deliver water from Northern California and the Colorado River, or to store water to help supply the region during droughts. Water in the so-called Eastside Reservoir, bordered by two natural ridgelines, will be contained by three dams that, collectively, will hold more earth and rock fill than any other reservoir project in the nation and more than all but six others in the world. The largest of the three dams will stretch 1.8 miles across the valley floor, stand 280 feet tall with a 2,000-foot-wide base. Water into and out of the reservoir will be controlled through a 270-foot-tall water inlet-outlet tower. The MWD will need about two years to fill the reservoir when the spigot is turned on in about a year. About 1,700 workers are assigned to the project, working back-to-back 10-hour shifts six days a week. When completed, the reservoir will stretch 4 1/2 miles long and 2 miles wide, creating a lake with a surface area of 4,500 acres and containing 260 billion gallons of water--about doubling the amount of water currently stored above ground in Southern California.