Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen

Share This

Climate and Environment

Devil’s Gate Reservoir Gets A Cleaning Ahead Of Storms

A wide shot of a bulldozer pushing dirt. In the background are trees and mountains. It's a sunny day with blue skies.
A tractor prepares to haul away a freshly-cut eucalyptus tree from the sediment-choked Devil's Gate Dam reservoir on Nov. 28, 2018. (Sharon McNary/LAist)
()

With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today . 

Topline:

L.A. County Public Works has removed more than 90,000 cubic yards — the equivalent of 27 Olympic pools — of sediment from Devil’s Gate Reservoir, one of 14 dams in the San Gabriel Mountains that prevent flooding and capture water for our drinking supply.

The context: You can see Devil’s Gate Reservoir while driving west on the 210, just below NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. The dam helps prevent flooding downstream in communities such as Pasadena and others along the Arroyo Seco. But since the 2009 Station fire — the largest fire recorded in L.A. County — the reservoir has been inundated with muddy sediment. Since 2019, more than a million cubic yards of sediment have been removed from the reservoir.

Why it matters: More sediment in reservoirs means less room for more water, so there’s a higher risk of flooding when big storms hit — and this winter is expected to be another wet one. More sediment in reservoirs is a mounting challenge for water supply and flood safety because the climate crisis is driving bigger fires and bigger floods.

Support for LAist comes from

What’s next: The county has faced challenges in getting enough funding to maintain sediment-inundated dams. In June, the county received funding to remove sediment and fortify the Santa Anita Dam, one of the largest dams in the county. The county estimates that across its 14 dams, some 15 million cubic yards of sediment needs to be removed.

Go deeper: 

At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.

But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.

We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.

Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist