San Luis Reservoir is an off-stream artificial lake in the eastern slopes of the Diablo Range of Merced County, in Central California.

The reservoir stores surplus water taken from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, which would otherwise flow into the ocean.


Water arrives via the California Aqueduct into the O'Neill Forebay and it is pumped into San Luis Reservoir during winter and spring.

Water is released back into the forebay to continue downstream along the California Aqueduct as needed for irrigation and other uses.


The capacity of the reservoir is 2,041,000 acre-ft, making it the largest off-stream reservoir in the United States.

At the eastern end of the reservoir is San Luis Dam, the fourth largest embankment dam in the United States. The dam is 305 ft (93 m) high and 3.66 miles (5.89 km) long.


Narrator: Dr. Victor M. Ponce

Music: Fernando Oñate

Editor: Flor Perez

Map Zoom: Google Earth

Credits: Wikipedia


Copyright 2010

Visualab Productions

All rights reserved