San Vicente Reservoir is a reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 created by the San Vicente Dam

San Vicente Dam

The San Vicente Dam is a concrete gravity dam on San Vicente Creek near Lakeside and 25 km northeast of San Diego, California. The dam was built between 1941 and 1943 and created San Vicente Reservoir for the purpose of municipal water storage, flood control and recreation. Although the...

 in the Cleveland National Forest

Cleveland National Forest

Cleveland National Forest encompasses 460,000 acres , mostly of chaparral, with a few riparian areas. A warm dry mediterranean climate prevails over the Forest. It is the southernmost National forest of California. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, a government agency within...

 of San Diego County, California

San Diego County, California

San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...

, approximately 7 km north of Lakeside

Lakeside, California

Lakeside is a Census Designated Place in San Diego County, California. The population was 20,648 at the 2010 census, up from 19,560 as of the 2000 census.- History :...

 off of California State Route 67

California State Route 67

State Route 67 runs from Interstate 8 in El Cajon to Lakeside as the San Vicente Freeway. It then becomes a smaller roadway through Poway and becomes Main Street in Ramona before ending into State Route 78....

 in the Laguna Mountains

Laguna Mountains

The Laguna Mountains are a section of the Peninsular Ranges in eastern San Diego County, California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately ....

.

Description

The reservoir is formed by impounding the waters of San Vicente Creek

San Vicente Creek (San Diego County)

San Vicente Creek is a stream in San Diego County, California. It rises east of Ramona and flows southwest to the San Vicente Reservoir and subsequently its confluence with the San Diego River just north of Lakeside. Its West Branch flows from the west until it reaches the San Vicente Reservoir....

, and the Colorado River

Colorado River

The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...

 via the First San Diego Aqueduct branch of the Colorado River Aqueduct

Colorado River Aqueduct

The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California . The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border west across the Mojave...

 from Lake Havasu

Lake Havasu

Lake Havasu is a large reservoir behind Parker Dam on the Colorado River, on the border between California and Arizona. Lake Havasu City sits on the lake's eastern shore. The lake has a capacity of . The concrete arch dam was built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation between 1934 and 1938...

.

In 2009, construction began of a $568 million project to increase the size of San Vicente Reservoir twofold. San Diego County Water Authority officials are hoping to receive funding from Proposition 18 (the $11.1 billion bond to upgrade the Californian water supply), but will continue the upgrade without these funds if the Proposition is unsuccessful. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/19/water-bond-now-bubble/

Recreation

As the San Vicente Dam is currently being raised, the reservoir has been closed off for recreational uses until the period between 2014-2017 when it reaches new levels. The raising of the dam will more than double the reservoir's current capacity of 145200000 cu yd (111,013,365.4 m³) by increasing it 245226666 cu yd (187,489,238.8 m³) to a total of 390426666 cu yd (298,502,604.2 m³).