Workers start pouring concrete for $450 million dam project

Workers began pouring concrete today for the San Diego County Water Authority’s $450 million project to raise the height of the San Vicente Dam.

The dam’s height will go from 220 feet to 337 feet, which will allow the San Vicente Reservoir to hold an additional 150,000 acre-feet of water. Projected completion is two years. One acre-foot is considered enough to supply two average single-family households for one year.

“This vital regional water infrastructure project will help enhance the reliability of San Diego County’s water supply for generations to come,’’ said Michael Hogan, chairman of the CWA Board of Directors.

The project is one of the last in the CWA’s program to improve the region’s emergency storage capacity in case water deliveries from the north are cut off. The larger reservoir will also help San Diegans get through drought years.

Raising the dam will require 650,000 cubic yards of concrete, enough to fill a football field to 28 stories high, according to the CWA.

The project includes an improved access road, expanded boat ramp and parking lot, and new shade trees and picnic areas. The CWA plans to refill the reservoir between late 2014 and 2017, depending on rainfall, supply and demand for water.

San Vicente Dam was completed in 1943, and the reservoir was connected to the CWA’s aqueduct four years later.