Los Vaqueros Project Facts
Purpose

• Improve water quality for CCWD's 550,000 customers. This is being accomplished by storing higher-quality Delta water from wet seasons for blending with the Delta supply during dry periods.
• Provide a 1-to-3 month supply of emergency water storage.
  
• Other benefits include recreation, flood control, and protection of rare natural and historic resources within the watershed.
  

Source

• Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. Intake is at Old River, near Discovery Bay.

Dam

• Located nine miles south of Brentwood
• 192 feet high
• 1,000-foot crest length
• 2.7 million cubic yards of fill material

Reservoir

• 100,000 acre-feet of storage
• 1,400-acre surface area
• 170-foot maximum depth
• 2.5 miles at longest point
• 2.5 miles at widest point

Water Source

• Intake facility at Old River south of Highway 4 Bridge, with 250 cubic-feet-per-second capacity (10,000 horsepower) pumping plant and fish screens
• Transfer facility northeast of Camino Diablo and Walnut with 200 cubic-feet-per-second capacity (8,000 horsepower) pumping plant
• 20 miles of 6-foot to 8-foot diameter pipeline connecting the transfer facility to the dam, the intake and the Contra Costa Canal near Antioch
  
  Vasco Road
  The previously existing Vasco Road has been inundated. It has been replaced by a new road that begins at Camino Diablo, and extends east around the Los Vaqueros watershed.
  
  The new road consists of almost 13 miles of two-lane highway, with climbing lanes where needed. It also has softer curves, and areas where drivers can pull over, if necessary.
  
  Project Schedule
  Start Construction 1994
  Project Completed 1997
  Project Dedicated 1998
  
  Cost
  $450 million
  
  Origin of Name
  Means "the cowboys" in Spanish
  Los vaqueros grazed cattle on the site a century ago.