San Vicente Dam Undergoes Historic Expansion

With all the talk about the drought and conserving water, the historic raising of the San Vicente Dam couldn't come at a better time.

The San Diego County Water Authority dedicated the dam raising in Lakeside on Wednesday. It's been heightened by 117 feet, more than doubling the storage capacity of San Vicente Reservoir.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said it's critical to the region's water supply and emergency water supply

“We're in the midst of a severe drought, we're likely to have droughts in the future, steps like this, increasing our capacity here locally, means that the San Diego region is less reliant on other portions of the state or out of town, we control our own,” Faulconer said.

The expansion is considered the single biggest increase in water storage in county history.

The dam raise was started in 2009 and cost more than $400 million.

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