Santa Ana River
Santa Ana River Rio de los Temblores, Rio de Santa Anna | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | California |
Counties | San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange |
Cities | San Bernardino, Riverside, Anaheim, Santa Ana |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Coon Creek |
• coordinates | 34°09′14″N 116°41′20″W / 34.15389°N 116.68889°W |
• elevation | 8,650 ft (2,640 m) |
2nd source | Heart Bar Creek |
• coordinates | 34°08′06″N 116°44′23″W / 34.13500°N 116.73972°W |
• elevation | 7,900 ft (2,400 m) |
Source confluence | San Bernardino Mountains |
• location | Santa Ana Canyon, San Bernardino County |
• coordinates | 34°09′00″N 116°46′18″W / 34.15000°N 116.77167°W |
• elevation | 6,991 ft (2,131 m) |
Mouth | Pacific Ocean |
• location | Huntington Beach, Orange County |
• coordinates | 33°37′41″N 117°57′31″W / 33.62806°N 117.95861°W |
• elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
Length | 96 mi (154 km), Northeast-Southwest |
Basin size | 2,650 sq mi (6,900 km2) |
Discharge | |
• location | Below Prado Dam, near Corona[1][2] |
• average | 224 cu ft/s (6.3 m3/s)[3][2] |
• minimum | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
• maximum | 317,000 cu ft/s (9,000 m3/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left |
The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States.[4] It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside counties, before cutting through the northern Santa Ana Mountains via Santa Ana Canyon and flowing southwest through urban Orange County to drain into the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Ana River is 96 miles (154 km) long,[5] and its drainage basin is 2,650 square miles (6,900 km2) in size.
The Santa Ana drainage basin has a diversity of terrain, ranging from high peaks of inland mountains in the north and east, to the hot, dry interior and semidesert basins of the Inland Empire, to the flat coastal plain of Orange County. Although it includes areas of alpine and highland forest, the majority of the watershed consists of arid desert and chaparral environments. Due to low regional rainfall, the river carries only a small flow except during the brief winter season, when it is prone to massive flash floods. The San Jacinto River, which drains the southern half of the watershed, rarely reaches the Santa Ana except in extremely wet years. A wide variety of animal and plant communities depend on the riparian zones and remnant wetlands along the Santa Ana River.
Humans have lived on the Santa Ana River for at least 9,000 years. The villages of
Course
The Santa Ana River rises in the southern
Not far below the confluence with San Timoteo Creek, Lytle Creek enters from the north. Lytle Creek is one of the largest tributaries of the Santa Ana river, rising from three forks in the San Gabriel Mountains and flowing southeast, before emptying into the Santa Ana River as Lytle Creek Wash. From there, the river turns southwest, and after passing through western Riverside, it discharges into the normally dry flood control reservoir formed by Prado Dam. Two major tributaries of the river join in the reservoir area: Chino Creek from the north, and Temescal Creek from the south.[15] Temescal Creek drains the largest area of all the tributaries, because it provides the outflow from Lake Elsinore, into which the San Jacinto River flows. It is also one of the longest, at 32 miles (51 km) in length. Except during the wettest years when Lake Elsinore fills high enough to overflow, Temescal Creek contributes little to no water into the Santa Ana River.[14][16]
Below Prado Dam, the Santa Ana River crosses into Orange County, and cuts between the Santa Ana Mountains and Chino Hills via the narrow Santa Ana Canyon. The river roughly bisects the county as it flows southwest towards the ocean. In Anaheim, the entire flow of the river (except during wet seasons) is diverted into spreading grounds for groundwater recharge of the north Orange County aquifer, providing about half of the county's municipal water supply. Downstream of there, the river is mostly confined to a concrete channel, serving only for flood control and urban runoff drainage, and is usually dry or a small trickle. At Orange it receives Santiago Creek from the east before entering Santa Ana. After crossing under Interstate 5 it passes through the River View Golf Course, one of its few non-concreted sections within Orange County, and then becomes a concrete channel again through most of Santa Ana and Fountain Valley to a point below the 405 Freeway, where the river bed becomes natural (though the banks remain concrete). The mouth of the river is located in a small tidal lagoon between Huntington State Beach in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.[14][17]
Watershed
The Santa Ana River drains the largest watershed of California's South Coast region,
As of 2000, about 4.8 million people lived in the Santa Ana River watershed.
The Santa Ana River watershed shares boundaries with many adjacent river basins. In the northwest is the San Gabriel River, which empties into the Pacific at Long Beach. In Orange County, the San Diego Creek, Aliso Creek, and San Juan Creek watersheds border the Santa Ana watershed on the south.[21] Further south, in San Diego County, the watershed is bordered by those of San Mateo Creek, the Santa Margarita River, and the San Luis Rey River. On the east the watershed shares borders with those of the Whitewater River and the Coachella Valley, flowing into the Salton Sea,[20] and on the north with the Mojave River, which flows into the endorheic basin of the Mojave Desert.
In Orange County, the river flows across a vast, gently sloping alluvial fan created from its own sediments therefor its drainage basin is extremely narrow[22] because the surrounding land slopes away from the river bed. In its natural state the river would frequently change course into one of many intermittent channels that fan out across the plain. Today, these auxiliary river-beds have been artificially disconnected from the Santa Ana River and converted into flood control channels, including the Talbert and Huntington Beach channels, which empty into the Pacific very near the mouth of the Santa Ana River. The combined Talbert-Huntington Beach watershed drains 21.4 square miles (55 km2) of mostly suburbanized land.[23] The river originally had many different outlets to the Pacific, one of which even extended as far north as the San Gabriel River.[24] The original mouth of the river was located at Newport Bay, which drained into the Pacific Ocean, at what is today the entrance to Newport Harbor. Based on a U.S. Coastal Survey from 1878, Newport Bay was predominantly a river estuary with few open channels. The river flowed into the bay bringing with it heavy silt and making boating difficult. To eventually create Newport Harbor, sand deposited by the Santa Ana River had to be constantly dredged away. In 1920, the Bitter Point Dam was built to divert the river away from the bay and on its current course to the ocean at Huntington Beach. Stone jetties were built to form the new river mouth. All of the Islands in Newport Harbor are the product of dredging and man made forming from the sands and silt deposited over time by the Santa Ana River.[25]
Geology
Ancient
Diverse and complex faulting and geologic instability have shaped the Santa Ana River watershed. The San Andreas Fault runs across the northern section of the watershed and is responsible for the formation of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, part of the Transverse Ranges of Southern California.[28] The Elsinore–Whittier Fault Zone crosses the Santa Ana River further downstream, near the Orange/Riverside County line.[28] Tectonic action along this fault created the Santa Ana Mountains, Puente Hills, East Orange Hills, Chino Hills, Loma Ridge, and the other mountain ranges and ridges that run northwest–southeast across the lower section of the watershed – the coastal Peninsular Ranges.[29] While the Transverse Ranges rise above 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in many places, the highest peaks of the Peninsular Ranges reach less than half that elevation.[27]
The cutting of Santa Ana Canyon across the Peninsular Ranges is attributed to the wetter Southern California climate during the
Ecology
Hundreds of species of animals and plants characterize the Santa Ana River's diversity of climates and vegetation zones. There are over ten of these vegetation zones in the watershed—including the sparsely vegetated
The largest portion of the watershed, the Inland Empire portion, is dominated by a hot, dry
Perennial and seasonal streams often are lined with live oak and sycamore, which transition into the riparian zones of the main stem Santa Ana River. The largest unbroken riparian corridor is the 20-mile (32 km) stretch between Riverside and Prado Dam, where the river has been largely left in its natural state despite pollution from urban runoff. In addition, the flood control basin behind Prado Dam contains 6,600 acres (2,700 ha) of seasonal wetlands.[35] The Santa Ana sucker, a small bottom-dwelling fish, was once found along most of the Santa Ana River, but is now rarely seen.[36] Near the mouth, the river was once abundant in salt marshes, which stretched for miles on either side of the river, even near Upper Newport Bay, which has also served as an alternate mouth of the river.[32][37]
The alpine and subalpine zones, despite their high elevation (above 9,500 feet, 2,900 meters) and significant rainfall (at least 35 inches, 89 centimeters per year, except in drought years), are sparsely vegetated. The windswept terrain of the alpine zone is primarily small brush and weeds, while trees—mostly small gnarled
Historically, the Santa Ana was named "the best stream in Southern California [for steelhead trout habitat]".
Invasive species—those that are not native to the region—have caused problems in the watershed for many years. One of the most troublesome invasive species is the
Other invasive species also have affected the Santa Ana River. One of the most prominent is the
History
First peoples
Human habitation on the Santa Ana River dates back 9,000 to 12,000 years ago, close to the early stages of the
Several major premodern Native American groups eventually gained control of lands along the river: the
Spanish period
When
It was not until 1769 that
Although no missions were actually located along the Santa Ana River or within the watershed,
Following the Mission Period came the
American settlement
In the late 1840s, California fought for its independence from Mexico in the
When the
In 1860, a much closer gold rush occurred in the San Bernardino Mountains when prospector William Holcomb discovered significant deposits, just over the northern drainage divide of the Santa Ana River. This discovery exploded into a full-scale gold mining operation in days.[56] The Santa Ana River served as a conduit for miners traveling to the region and many of the forests in the upper basin experienced clearcutting as a result of the high resource demands of the boom. Gold was also discovered in Lytle Creek in that same year.[57] Following the gold rush, the cultivation of citrus became the mainstay of the economy of the lower Santa Ana River area.[28] Through the late 19th century, citrus fields covered much of the coastal plain and led to the naming of Orange County.[48]
Floods, droughts and legacy
Notwithstanding the increased prosperity in the 1860s, this decade was also the scene of a series of natural disasters. In the Great Flood of 1862, heavy rains dropped by a series of winter storms caused the Santa Ana to burst its banks, flooding thousands of acres of land and killing 20 to 40 people in the greatest flood it had experienced in recorded history.[48][58] The levees along the river burst in many places, flooding part of the Inland Empire into a continuous body of water several miles wide stretching from the mouth of Santa Ana Canyon to where the river cuts through the Santa Ana Mountains. Downstream in Orange County, the river overwhelmed nearly all the existing floodworks and transformed the coastal plain into a transient inland sea. The flow, now calculated as a 1,000-year flood, peaked at roughly 9,000 cubic meters per second (320,000 cu ft/s), over half the average flow of the Mississippi River.[57][59] Even after the flood, detrimental conditions continued in the region. For the two years following the flood, an intense drought caused the deaths of tens of thousands of head of livestock. Despite all of the hardships experienced in the three years, after conditions finally returned to normal, the Santa Ana River watershed again became a prospering agricultural region.[57] The cities of Santa Ana and Riverside were established in 1869 and 1870, respectively.[60]
1934 and 1938 saw a further pair of devastating floods that in part brought an end to the area's citrus industry.
With the increased flood protection afforded by the Prado Dam, major industrial development migrating south from the Los Angeles Basin, and the Southern California housing boom in the 1950s and 1960s, the Santa Ana River watershed began its third and final transition—from agricultural to urban.[55] The population of the Santa Ana River basin increased dramatically, but brought with it the threat of greater damage from floods, somewhat compromising the protection afforded by Prado Dam. Because housing and urban areas encroached on the river's historic floodplain—an area once occupied by farms—and the river became confined to a narrow channel—a flood similar to the ones surrounding the turn of the 20th century would cause much more damage. The construction of roads and buildings also heightened the runoff that would flow into the river during rainfall, a process known as urban runoff.[55] In fact, the river flooded again in 1969, and while much of the runoff from the Inland Empire was captured behind Prado Dam—probably saving Orange County from an even greater flood—Santiago Creek, a large tributary flowing from the Santa Ana Mountains, eroded its banks until it swept away portions of residential communities in the cities of Tustin and Orange.[64]
In 1964, the Santa Ana River Mainstem Project, which involved concreting the lower 30.4 miles (48.9 km) of the river, was first proposed. Construction work began in 1989, and today, through much of Orange County, the river's channel is essentially an enormous box culvert.[65][66] The second dam, Seven Oaks Dam, was completed in 1999. This dam captures flood runoff from Santa Ana Canyon before it can enter the Inland Empire.[58] The dam was designed to withstand a 350-year flood.[67] Today, the river lies mainly between levees and concrete channels, and especially in its lower course, functions only as a flood drainage channel.[68]
Pollution and restoration
As with many Southern California rivers, the Santa Ana is heavily polluted and used. The main stem above
In Orange County, the Orange County Water District, formed in 1932 to manage the county's groundwater, uses the treated water from upstream to recharge a massive reservoir, or aquifer, that runs roughly nine miles from Lakeview Avenue to Ball Road. The water percolates through layers of sand and gravel, which work to scrub, or purify it. There, it joins treated wastewater pumped from the Orange County Sanitation Department's state-of-the-art plant in Fountain Valley. Those two types of water account for 60 to 70 percent of the aquifer, which can hold 500,000 acre feet. Combined with water imported from Northern California and the Colorado River, the OCWD maintains that the aquifer could serve the water needs of all its clients for a year.[71]
A number of organizations have been formed to try to gain public interest in restoring the river. One of the most prominent[according to whom?] is the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA), formed by five municipal water districts in the Santa Ana River area. A second one is the Santa Ana River Dischargers Association. Both have conducted studies as to what beneficial uses the Santa Ana River would have aside from water supply and flood control, as well as the removal of some of the concreted sections of the lower river. This set of studies is known as the "Use-Attainability Analysis", which was submitted to the state Congress, which approved it. However, upon submission to the EPA, it was rejected. As a result, little work has been done to repair the ecological damage that has been caused by urbanization along the river.[72] Other projects include the Santa Ana Watershed Planning Advisory Committee,[72] and the Santa Ana River Watershed Alliance (SARWA).[73][71]
Recreation
There are many recreational opportunities along the Santa Ana River. The Santa Ana River watershed includes parts of the
The
Crossings
The Santa Ana River has 70 significant crossings, bridges and dams. This list places them from mouth to
Orange County
|
Riverside County
|
See also
- List of rivers of Orange County, California
- List of tributaries of the Santa Ana River
- Category: Populated places on the Santa Ana River
- List of rivers of California
- List of watershed topics
References
- ^ "USGS Gage #11074000 on the Santa Ana River below Prado Dam, CA: Water-Data Report 2013" (PDF). National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1941–2013. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
- ^ ISBN 0-520-05035-5.
- ^ "USGS Gage #11074000 on the Santa Ana River below Prado Dam, CA: Water-Data Report 2013" (PDF). National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1941–2013. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
- ^ "Santa Ana River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. January 19, 1981. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 16, 2011
- ^ OCLC 745176510.
- ^ )
- ^ "Coon Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. January 19, 1981. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ "Heart Bar Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. January 19, 1981. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ "Dollar Lake". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. January 19, 1981. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
- ^ "Dry Lake". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. January 19, 1981. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
- ISBN 0-89997-351-5.
- ISBN 0-89997-411-2.
- ^ a b c d Asbury, David (2008). Historical status of Oncorhynchus mykiss in coastal streams of Orange County, California (Map). Cartography by National Hydrography Dataset, National Geographic TOPO!, CalWater 2.2.1, CEMAR. Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration.
- ^ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. February 27, 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2009 – via Orange County Board of Supervisors.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 11.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 12.
- ^ "Santa Ana Basin". National Water Quality Assessment Program. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
- ^ a b "About the Watershed: Santa Ana River Watershed". Santa Ana River Watershed Alliance. Archived from the original on September 5, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "Santa Ana River Watershed". Orange County Water District. Archived from the original on February 3, 2010. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
- ^ Watershed and Coastal Resources Division of Orange County. Watersheds and City/County Jurisdiction (Map). Watershed and Coastal Resources Division of Orange County. Archived from the original on June 26, 2009. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
- ^ "Introduction to Santa Ana River Watershed". Watershed and Coastal Resources Division of Orange County. Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
- ^ "Introduction to Talbert Watershed". Watershed and Coastal Resources Division of Orange County. Archived from the original on April 27, 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
- ^ Fehrehbach, Jed. "Project Reveals River's Likely Course". ArcUser Magazine. ESRI. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
- Orange County Register. Archived from the originalon May 25, 2011.
- ^ a b Mitchell (2006a), p. 17.
- ^ a b c Mitchell (2006a), p. 16.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Santa Ana River Watershed". Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority. Archived from the original on February 21, 2011. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 15.
- ^ a b Colburn, Ivan P. "The Role of Antecedent Rivers in Shaping the Orange/Los Angeles Coastal Plain" (PDF). California State University Los Angeles, Department of Geology. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 2, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 13.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59714-050-8.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), pp. 23–25.
- ^ "What is Chaparral?". California Chaparral Institute. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ Clarke, Svehla & Ballmer (2007), p. 3.
- ^ a b "Endangered Species". Santa Ana Watershed Association. Archived from the original on September 6, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ Sahagun, Louis (August 22, 2016). "Environmentalists to sue San Bernardino and Colton over the killing of threatened fish". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), pp. 21–22.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 55.
- ^ a b c d "Steelhead/rainbow trout resources of Orange County" (PDF). Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration.
- ^ Asbury, David (2008). Current status of Oncorhynchus mykiss in coastal streams of Orange County, California (PDF) (Map). Cartography by National Hydrography Dataset, National Geographic TOPO!, CalWater 2.2.1, CEMAR. Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
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- ^ a b "Habitat Restoration". Orange County Water District. Archived from the original on February 3, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
- ^ "Giant Reed". Center for Invasive Species Research. University of California Riverside. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ^ "Invasive Species". Santa Ana Watershed Association. Archived from the original on September 6, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 35.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), pp. 33–34.
- ^ a b c d e f g "History of the Santa Ana River" (PDF). Parks, Recreation and Community Service Agency. City of Santa Ana. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
- ^ a b c Mitchell (2006a), p. 36.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 37.
- ^ Bolton, Herbert E. (1927). Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769–1774. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 140–143 – via HathiTrust Digital Library.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 38.
- ^ a b c Teller, H.M. (July 13, 1884). "Report on the Condition and Needs of the Mission Indians". University of California. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ISBN 0-8047-4482-3.
- ^ a b c d Gold, Scott (October 3, 1999). "Disaster Prompted $1.3 Billion Effort to Tame Santa Ana River, Protect Basin". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b Mitchell (2006a), p. 41.
- ^ a b c Mitchell (2006a), p. 42.
- ^ a b "Seven Oaks Dam Project". SBC Department of Public Works. San Bernardino County. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ^ Bainbridge, David. "The flood next time... When the next 100-year storm hits, the damage will be huge. Guess who will pay for it..." San Diego Earth Times. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 43.
- ^ "Los Angeles Basin's Catastrophic 1938 Flood Event". Suburban Emergency Management Project. June 7, 2006. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 44.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Archived from the originalon March 11, 2007. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 46.
- ^ "Project History". Santa Ana River Project. Orange County Flood Control Division. Archived from the original on July 13, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ^ "Project Description". Santa Ana River Project. Orange County Flood Control Division. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ^ "Seven Oaks Dam". Santa Ana River Project. Orange County Flood Control Division. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ^ Mitchell (2006a), p. 47.
- ^ a b New strategies for America's watersheds, p. 102.[full citation needed]
- Orange County Register. Archived from the originalon August 22, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ a b Beers, Joel (August 7, 2014). "The Santa Ana River Is Ready for Its Renaissance". OC Weekly. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
- ^ a b New strategies for America's watersheds, p. 103.[full citation needed]
- ^ "Santa Ana River Watershed Alliance". Santa Ana River Watershed Alliance. Archived from the original on May 18, 2006. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- ^ Mott, Patrick (December 24, 1987). "Where a Cyclist Can Really Get On a Roll". Los Angeles Times. p. 3, Orange County Life. Retrieved December 19, 2009.
- ^ Holman, Bob (August 2006). Santa Ana River Regional Bikeway and Trail (PDF) (Map). Cartography by Resources & Development Management Department, Geomatics/Land Information Systems Division, GIS Mapping Unit. Orange County Public Works. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 23, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ^ "Hidden Valley Wildlife Area". Riverside County Regional Park & Open Space District. Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
- ^ a b Sahagun, Louis (October 27, 2014) "How California is turning drainage canals back to rivers" Los Angeles Times
External links
Archival collections
- Guide to the Santa Ana River Report. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.