O'Neill Forebay
Template:Infobox Dam The O’Neill Dam is an earthfill dam on San Luis Creek, 12 miles (19 km) west of the city of Los Banos, California. Forming the O’Neill Forebay, a forebay to the San Luis Reservoir, it is roughly 2.5 miles (4.0 km) downstream from the San Luis Dam. Irregular water releases from the San Luis Dam and William R. Gianelli Powerplant are collected in the reservoir of the O’Neill Dam, which has a capacity of 56,400 acre feet. The dam, built in the 1960s, is an earthfill and rockfill dam, stretching over three miles across the valley of San Luis Creek. A morning-glory type spillway lies at the left bank of the reservoir. The reservoir is fed by releases from the San Luis Dam as well as from the Delta-Mendota Canal. Water from the Delta-Mendota Canal is lifted a vertical distance of 8 feet (2.4 m) into a channel running 2,200 feet (670 m) into the forebay.[1]
The dam, originally built from 1963 to 1967, is 87.5 feet (26.7 m) high, with a maximum reservoir depth of 57 feet (17 m). The crest of the dam is 14,300 feet (4,400 m) long, at an elevation of 223 feet (68 m). The spillway is, as mentioned before, a morning-glory (inverted bell) design, capacity 3,250 cubic feet (92 m3) per second, and with a circumference of 641.5 feet (195.5 m). The peak inflow to the forebay is 15,600 cubic feet (440 m3) per second, from both the San Luis Dam and the Delta-Mendota Canal. Drainage area of the reservoir downstream of the San Luis Dam is only 18 acres (0.073 km2). The O’Neill Pumping-Generating Plant produces 28,000 kilowatts.[1]
Notably, the largest striped bass caught in California was caught in the O’Neill Forebay. The fish, 52.5 inches (133 cm) long and weighing 70.6 pounds (32.0 kg), was caught on August 5, 2008 by Frank Ualat of Gilroy, California.[2]
References
- ^ a b "O'Neill Dam". Bureau of Reclamation. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
- ^ "Angler Catches 71.60 Lb. Striped Bass At O'Neill Forebay". The Fish Sniffer. Retrieved 2009-04-28.