Castaic Lake
Castaic Dam on the creek forms Castaic Lake, but most of the water comes from the West Branch of the West Branch California Aqueduct, part of the California State Water Project. The 323,700 acre foot (399,300,000 m3) lake is the terminus for west branch of the aqueduct. The aqueduct delivers water to the lake by a pipeline from Pyramid Lake.
Besides storing drinking water, Castaic Lake is the lower reservoir in a pumped-storage hydroelectric system. During times of peak electricity demand, water is released from Pyramid Lake and run through the turbines at Castaic Power Plant. At night, when demand and electricity prices are lower, water is pumped from Castaic Lake to Pyramid Lake. The income from the electricity sold offsets a portion of the cost for pumping the water in some parts of the aqueduct, such as over the Tehachapi Mountains.
Read more about this topic: Castaic Creek
Famous quotes containing the word lake:
“A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. The fluviatile trees next the shore are the slender eyelashes which fringe it, and the wooded hills and cliffs around are its overhanging brows.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)