Stevens Creek (California) - Watershed

Watershed

Stevens Creek consists of approximately 20 miles (32 km) of channel, and enters the San Francisco Estuary near Long Point, north of Moffett Field Naval Air Station, at Whisman Slough between Mountain View's Shoreline Park and Stevens Creek Shoreline Nature Study Area. It drains a watershed of about 29 square miles.

There is one major impoundment, Stevens Creek Reservoir at 531 feet (162 m) of elevation. The reservoir was constructed in 1935 to provide storage capacity of winter runoff that could be used to recharge the Santa Clara valley aquifer. The reservoir is managed by the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) and has a current capacity of 3,465 acre feet (4,274,000 m3) of water. As currently managed by the SCVWD, flows are released during summer months which result in maintaining a wet channel for approximately 5.7 miles (9.2 km) downstream of the Reservoir (to Fremont Avenue) in order to preserve steelhead trout.

Tributaries above the Stevens Creek Reservoir include Swiss and Montebello Creeks. One tributary, Heney Creek, joins the mainstem 3.7 miles (6.0 km) below the Reservoir. Additionally, a diversion channel from Permanente Creek (constructed in 1959) sends winter storm flows into Stevens Creek approximately 6.3 miles (10.1 km) below the reservoir.