By Miriam Raftery

File photo: El Captain reservoir and dam, by BIlly Ortiz

August 20, 2023 (Lakeside) – The City of San Diego has announced that today it has begun releasing water from El Capitan Reservoir in Lakeside, in anticipation of a potential spill due to Tropical Storm Hilary. 

Flowing water will be visible downstream from the dam in El Monte Valley and beyond. The notice is posted on the city’s webpage for El Capitan Reservoir.

El Capitan is an aging dam made of rocks, built in 1934. The dam is 237 feet tall and 1,170 feet wide, but no longer meets state standards, ECM warned back in 2017.

The aging dam is considered in poor condition and would pose a high risk of loss of life downstream if it were kept full and should rupture. Last year, NPR reported that El Capitan dam “is capable of storing over 36 billion gallons of water — enough to supply every resident in San Diego for most of a year. Today, it's three-quarters empty — intentionally kept low because of concerns it could fail under the strain of too much water.”