From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dam in Santa Barbara County, California
Bradbury Dam
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Aerial-BradburyDam.jpg/220px-Aerial-BradburyDam.jpg) |
Location of Bradbury Dam in California
|
Country
| United States
|
---|
Location
| Santa Barbara County
,
California
|
---|
Coordinates
| 34°34′58″N
119°58′50″W
/
34.58278°N 119.98056°W
/
34.58278; -119.98056
|
---|
Construction began
| 1950
; 74 years ago
(
1950
)
|
---|
Opening date
| 1953
; 71 years ago
(
1953
)
|
---|
Owner(s)
| U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
|
---|
|
Type of dam
| earthfill
|
---|
Impounds
| Santa Ynez River
|
---|
Height
| 279 ft (85 m)
|
---|
Length
| 2,850 ft (870 m)
|
---|
Elevation at crest
| 766 ft (233 m)
|
---|
Dam volume
| 6,695,000 cu yd (5,119,000 m
3
)
|
---|
Spillways
| Gate-controlled concrete chute
|
---|
Spillway capacity
| 161,000 cu ft/s (4,600 m
3
/s)
|
---|
|
Creates
| Cachuma Lake
|
---|
Total capacity
| 205,000 acre?ft (253,000,000 m
3
)
|
---|
Catchment area
| 417 sq mi (1,080 km
2
)
|
---|
Surface area
| 3,250 acres (1,320 ha)
|
---|
Normal elevation
| 750 ft (230 m)
|
---|
|
Hydraulic head
| 206 ft (63 m)
|
---|
Installed capacity
| None
|
---|
Bradbury Dam
is an earthen dam across the
Santa Ynez River
in central
Santa Barbara County
,
California
. The dam forms
Lake Cachuma
, which provides the majority of water supplies within the county.
Although the Santa Ynez can reach massive flows in the winter, it usually dries up for several months of the year in the summer. A large storage facility to catch winter floodwaters for use in the summer and autumn was desperately needed by the growing population of the region, especially that of south coast cities like
Santa Barbara
and
Carpinteria
. Even before Bradbury Dam was considered, the
Gibraltar Dam
was built upstream to divert water through a tunnel to the city of Santa Barbara. However, that dam was plagued by siltation and was unable to fully serve the water requirements of the city.
[1]
Construction on Bradbury Dam started in 1950 as part of a
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
scheme called the
Cachuma Project
, intended to provide long-term water storage and delivery to Santa Barbara and other cities throughout the region as well as provide water for
irrigation
. Originally named the Cachuma Dam upon completion in 1953, the name was changed in 1971 to honor C. W. "Brad" Bradbury, a local water supply proponent.
[2]
[3]
The dedication plaque for Bradbury Dam, to C. W. "Brad" Bradbury, at the vista point off
California State Route 154
, with the dam in the background
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Latousek, Thomas A. (1995).
"Cachuma Project History"
.
Bureau of Reclamation History Program
. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
. Retrieved
2019-08-01
.
- ^
"Cachuma Project"
. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2011-04-18
. Retrieved
2019-08-01
.
- ^
"Operations"
. Cachuma Operations and Maintenance Board
. Retrieved
2019-08-01
.
|
---|
Tributaries
| |
---|
Communities
| |
---|
Landmarks
| |
---|