- Tujunga Wash
Tujunga Wash is a
stream inLos Angeles County, California . It is a tributary of theLos Angeles River , providing about a fifth of its flow, and drains about 225 square miles. It is called a wash because it is usually dry, especially the lower reaches, only carrying significant flows during and after storms, which usually only occur between November and April. The watershed includesAngeles National Forest and highly urbanized land in the northern portion of theGreater Los Angeles Area .Tujunga Wash consists of two forks, both beginning in the
San Gabriel Mountains . The upper portion of Big Tujunga Wash is called Tujunga Creek, or Big Tujunga Creek. It travels roughly east and several tributaries from the north and south join it as it flows to Big Tujunga Reservoir, formed byBig Tujunga Dam . Below thedam , the stream is called Big Tujunga Wash. It continues its westward flow, entersSan Fernando Valley and is met byLittle Tujunga Wash a mile before reaching Hansen Reservoir, which is formed byHansen Dam . Little Tujunga Wash comes from the north, draining the portion of the San Gabriel Mountains immediately north of Hansen Reservoir. Downstream of the dam, Tujunga Wash flows roughly south and is met halfway to its confluence with theLos Angeles River byPacoima Wash , which drains the other side of the mountains that Little Tujunga Wash drains. Finally, Tujunga Wash meets theLos Angeles River nearStudio City, California .Big Tujunga Dam was built by Los Angeles County and completed in 1931. Big Tujunga Reservoir can hold 5,960 acre feet (7,350,000 m³) of water. The dam is currently undergoing a
seismic retrofit , which includes doubling the thickness of the gravity arch dam. Hansen Dam was built by theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers and completed in 1940. Hansen Reservoir can hold 74,100 acre feet (91,000,000 m³) of water. Their primary purposes areflood control , although they also provide somegroundwater recharge. Water cannot percolate in the lower portion of the watershed because it is so urbanized that there is little bare ground and streambeds have been transformed intoconcrete channels and the water flows too fast in the upper reaches of the watershed to sink into the ground very much. As a result, the majority of the water is discharged into the ocean.ee also
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Great Wall of Los Angeles References
* [http://www.bartleby.com/69/0/T07100.html Columbia Gazetteer of North America]
* [http://www.theriverproject.org/tujunga/about.html Tujunga Watershed Project]
* [http://calwater.ca.gov/Programs/Watershed/WatershedGrantsBrochure_02-04/Southern_California_Region_Awards_2003-2004.pdf California Bay-Delta Program] (PDF)
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