Green Verdugo 6-043 Dam

Completed in 1953, the Green Verdugo 6-043 Dam stands as a testament to human ingenuity. It’s an earth-filled dam, built to create the Green Verdugo Reservoir. This reservoir holds 99 acre-feet of precious drinking water for Los Angeles. The dam itself isn’t particularly tall, measuring about 118 feet high. But its length is more impressive, stretching 452 feet across. The Green Verdugo 6-043 Dam isn’t just a structure of concrete and earth. It’s a vital part of Los Angeles’s water infrastructure. The reservoir it creates, the Green Verdugo Reservoir, has a surface area of about 3 acres. Imagine the sheer volume of water held back by this dam. This reservoir was severely impacted by the La Tuna Canyon Fire in September 2017. The fire damaged the existing floating cover, a crucial component for protecting water quality. As a result, the reservoir was taken out of service. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) launched a project to replace the cover and make other necessary improvements. This project included replacing the cover itself, installing a new liner and security features, modifying inlet and outlet pipes, repaving the reservoir road, and even building a new control building. The Green Verdugo 6-043 Dam is more than just a dam. It’s a symbol of resilience and the ongoing effort to ensure a reliable water supply for Los Angeles, especially in the face of environmental challenges. The project to restore the Green Verdugo Reservoir to full operation was completed in April 2024. Even after completion, the dam and reservoir underwent a commissioning phase to ensure everything was functioning perfectly. This involved rigorous testing of the pumps, automated programming for the stormwater drainage system, and the subdrain system. The Green Verdugo 6-043 Dam stands as a quiet guardian over Los Angeles’s water supply, ready to serve for generations to come.