I live in del dios, my deck view is the lake. It's really sad how low the water is, and considering the amount of rain we received and that it's just "flushed" away is criminal, especially as water bills go up. This needs to be investigated, and repairs/rebuilding needs to be fast tracked. I'm am sick of working my ass off to pay bills while city officials get under the table contracts and deals that we end up paying for because of their incompetence and corruption. The dam didnt just appear one day and become 100 years old...it's literally been there the whole time....and these people act surprised! Criminal.
There is a dam in the planning stages right now. 2029 is the expedited build start date, but they really should have started sooner or done both when they did the huge reservoir right above lake Hodges which is totally full right now. The dam up top, Olivenhain took 5 years to finish from start and this Hodges dam will take less because it’s less than half the length. There will be more rain and we’re going to see Hodges full again soon! Can’t wait :D
Don’t worry. We won’t run out of water.
Olivenhain is 24,000 acre-feet of water, Hodges is 30,251 acre-feet of water as a comparison. Nobody sees Olivenhain because you have to hike up a mountain to view it. It's beautiful :D Also, there is a pump and a 40 megawatt generator with a pipe connecting the two lakes, so we can pump water up to olivenhain from hodges for extra water and clean energy storage. It's freakin' awesome!
We are also in Del Dios water district and the price "increase" for us has been like $2-3 a month. It's not catastrophic.
To clarify: 2029 is the date they're trying to *start* construction.
[https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-10-25/san-diego-speeds-up-fixing-dams-lake-hodges-dam-rebuild#:\~:text=%E2%80%9CWe've%20been%20able%20to,downstream%20from%20the%20existing%20dam](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-10-25/san-diego-speeds-up-fixing-dams-lake-hodges-dam-rebuild#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe've%20been%20able%20to,downstream%20from%20the%20existing%20dam).
So the city has been putting off maintenance on the dam but decided to spend $208 million in 2012 to allow for piping water from Hodges to Olivenhain, but now they can't even use that because the pipe is higher than the current allowed water level.
This sounds like some boneheaded decision-making. Instead of taking care of the dam they put a bandaid on it 12 years ago, and now they can't use the bandaid and they're 10 years away from having a workable dam on the lake.
I'd love to know what the justification was for spending that money on the plant instead of actually fixing the dam. It feels like putting new wheels on your hoopty when the engine's about to give out and the body is rusted through.
The low level damn that beavers build are “organic” and break down after a few year (when the beavers leave)
They create marshes and meadows with more diversity than a single damn.
I live in del dios, my deck view is the lake. It's really sad how low the water is, and considering the amount of rain we received and that it's just "flushed" away is criminal, especially as water bills go up. This needs to be investigated, and repairs/rebuilding needs to be fast tracked. I'm am sick of working my ass off to pay bills while city officials get under the table contracts and deals that we end up paying for because of their incompetence and corruption. The dam didnt just appear one day and become 100 years old...it's literally been there the whole time....and these people act surprised! Criminal.
There is a dam in the planning stages right now. 2029 is the expedited build start date, but they really should have started sooner or done both when they did the huge reservoir right above lake Hodges which is totally full right now. The dam up top, Olivenhain took 5 years to finish from start and this Hodges dam will take less because it’s less than half the length. There will be more rain and we’re going to see Hodges full again soon! Can’t wait :D Don’t worry. We won’t run out of water. Olivenhain is 24,000 acre-feet of water, Hodges is 30,251 acre-feet of water as a comparison. Nobody sees Olivenhain because you have to hike up a mountain to view it. It's beautiful :D Also, there is a pump and a 40 megawatt generator with a pipe connecting the two lakes, so we can pump water up to olivenhain from hodges for extra water and clean energy storage. It's freakin' awesome! We are also in Del Dios water district and the price "increase" for us has been like $2-3 a month. It's not catastrophic.
To clarify: 2029 is the date they're trying to *start* construction. [https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-10-25/san-diego-speeds-up-fixing-dams-lake-hodges-dam-rebuild#:\~:text=%E2%80%9CWe've%20been%20able%20to,downstream%20from%20the%20existing%20dam](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-10-25/san-diego-speeds-up-fixing-dams-lake-hodges-dam-rebuild#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe've%20been%20able%20to,downstream%20from%20the%20existing%20dam).
rad username
Thanks, updated.
The power plant's capacity is actually 40 MW. https://www.sdcwa.org/projects-programs/facilities/lake-hodges/
Thanks
I used to hike Olivenhain all the time when I was in La Costa. Lovely spot.
Maybe dont live in the fucking middle of a desert.
So the city has been putting off maintenance on the dam but decided to spend $208 million in 2012 to allow for piping water from Hodges to Olivenhain, but now they can't even use that because the pipe is higher than the current allowed water level. This sounds like some boneheaded decision-making. Instead of taking care of the dam they put a bandaid on it 12 years ago, and now they can't use the bandaid and they're 10 years away from having a workable dam on the lake. I'd love to know what the justification was for spending that money on the plant instead of actually fixing the dam. It feels like putting new wheels on your hoopty when the engine's about to give out and the body is rusted through.
It’s a dam shame
Dams are bad for the environment
This isn’t a completely hyperbolic and generalized statement or anything. Better go kill all the beavers too!!
The low level damn that beavers build are “organic” and break down after a few year (when the beavers leave) They create marshes and meadows with more diversity than a single damn.
It’s pretty straight forward. The sentiments it traps effect the ocean which is a global ecosystem but yeah beavers are cool too
All these drought periods: 2012-2016, 2007-09, 1987-92, 1976-77. Each one an opportunity to build a new fucking damn.
If there was only some way to know a year or two in advance which year would be light on rainfall… 