San Diego was selected Wednesday to receive $240.6 million in federal loans for Lake Hodges dam improvement projects and its eventual replacement.
The funding comes from a U.S Army Corps of Engineers‘ infrastructure financing program, intended to provide low-cost loans to maintain, repair and upgrade dams not under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
The program is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which, said Mayor Todd Gloria, “continues to pay dividends here in San Diego.”
“The safety of our critical infrastructure, like our city-owned and-operated dams, is essential to public safety and lowering costs for ratepayers across our city,” he added.
The funding is among 18 loans awarded nationally and is intended to help the city replace the aging dam, including adding a roller-compacted concrete dam 100 feet downstream of the existing structure to meet safety standards, the city said in a statement.
Lake Hodges Dam was constructed in 1918 after the Volcan Water Company commissioned it. San Diego purchased the dam and the reservoir it created in 1925.
According to the city, when full, the reservoir has 1,234 surface acres, a maximum depth of 115 feet and 27 miles of shoreline. Hodges Reservoir has a water storage capacity of 30,251 acre-feet – enough to cover an acre of land with a foot of water.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law shows what Congress can accomplish when we work together,” Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, said. “I supported it because I knew it would deliver for San Diegans – and it has.”
He added that given the Lake Hodges Dam’s age and its status as one of 42 dams in California with restricted water storage, “it’s important that the design and construction of our most critical infrastructure be of this century and able to withstand whatever Mother Nature throws its way.”
Over the next year, San Diego engineers will work with the U.S Army Corps of Engineers on finalizing an agreement for the terms of the loan.
