🌊 Lopez Lake

Lopez Lake is a reservoir near the city of Arroyo Grande in San Luis Obispo County, California. The lake is formed by Lopez Dam on Arroyo Grande Creek, 9 mi (14 km) upstream from the Pacific Ocean. The creek drains about 60 sq mi (160 km2) above the dam and 90 sq mi (230 km2) below. The dam was built in 1969 and is operated by the San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. The earth-fill dam was retrofitted to protect against earthquakes between 2001 and 2003. The winter of 2022-2023 brought the reservoir to the capacity of 49,200 acre-feet (60,700,000 m3). In March 2023 the lake overflowed into the spillway for the first time since 1998, some 25 years prior.