High Risk Dams in California

California has 47 high hazard dams with a condition assessment of poor or unsatisfactory. These are dams where failure would probably cause loss of human life and where recognized safety deficiencies have been identified.

Of the 807 high hazard dams in California, 47 (5%) have concerning condition ratings — 44 rated poor and 3 rated unsatisfactory.

Dam	County	Height (ft)	Condition	Purpose	Year
Castaic	Los Angeles	340	Poor	Water Supply	1973
Nacimiento	San Luis Obispo	255	Poor	Hydroelectric	1956
Anderson	Santa Clara	240	Unsatisfactory	Water Supply	1950
El Capitan	San Diego	237	Poor	Water Supply	1934
Santa Felicia	Ventura	213	Poor	Water Supply	1955
Morena	San Diego	181	Poor	Water Supply	1912
Vermilion Valley	Fresno	165	Poor	Hydroelectric	1954
Matilija	Ventura	163	Poor	Other	1949
Barrett	San Diego	161	Poor	Water Supply	1922
Savage	San Diego	149	Poor	Water Supply	1919
Lake Fordyce	Nevada	145	Poor	Hydroelectric	1873
Guadalupe	Santa Clara	142	Poor	Water Supply	1935
Coyote	Santa Clara	140	Poor	Water Supply	1936
Relief	Tuolumne	140	Poor	Hydroelectric	1909
Santiago Creek	Orange	136	Poor	Water Supply	1933
Tabeaud	Amador	136	Poor	Hydroelectric	1901
Lake Hodges	San Diego	131	Unsatisfactory	Water Supply	1918
Lake Mission Viejo	Orange	123	Poor	Water Supply	1976
Almaden	Santa Clara	110	Poor	Other	1936
Lake Curry	Napa	107	Poor	Other	1926
Pilarcitos	San Mateo	103	Poor	Water Supply	1866
Magalia	Butte	103	Poor	Water Supply	1918
North Fork	Santa Clara	100	Poor	Water Supply	1939
Misselbeck	Shasta	96	Poor	Other	1920
Calero	Santa Clara	90	Poor	Water Supply	1935
Dove Canyon	Orange	88	Poor	Flood Risk Reduction	1989
Grant Lake	Mono	87	Poor	Water Supply	1940
Swanzy Lake	Solano	86	Poor	Water Supply	1931
Gem Lake	Mono	80	Poor	Hydroelectric	1917
Rubio Debris Basin	Los Angeles	64	Poor	Debris Control	1944
Bear Gulch	San Mateo	61	Poor	Water Supply	1896
Rush Meadows	Mono	50	Poor	Hydroelectric	1925
Salt Springs Valley	Calaveras	47	Poor	Other	1882
Lee Lake	Riverside	47	Poor	Water Supply	1893
St. Helena Ler	Napa	44	Poor	Water Supply	1878
Mendocino Middle	Mendocino	39	Poor	Other	1908
Lake Helen	Sonoma	39	Poor	Water Supply	1966
Tinemaha	Inyo	32	Poor	Other	1928
Silver Lake	Amador	32	Poor	Hydroelectric	1876
Rancho Rubini	Colusa	31	Poor	Water Supply	1955
Agnew Lake	Mono	30	Poor	Hydroelectric	1916
Round Valley	Butte	29	Unsatisfactory	Hydroelectric	1877
Scotia Log Pond	Humboldt	24	Poor	Water Supply	1910
Engineer	Monterey	20	Poor	Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond	1964
Giles	Solano	18	Poor	Water Supply	1965
Treatment Ponds	Shasta	16	Poor	Water Supply	1975
Peju Reservoir No. 2	Napa	14	Poor	Water Supply

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