The Sepulveda Dam

Ever since I’ve lived here in Los Angeles, I would commute back and forth on the 101 freeway on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. When driving westbound on the 101, less than 0.2 miles passing the 405 freeway, I would take a quick glance to my right. I would always see this uncommon type of bridge sitting on these thick cemented A-frame panels. I couldn’t see the entire bridge from top to bottom due to the distance of where I was driving. So I would assume that there must’ve been a humongous lake or some kind of man made beach in San Fernando Valley. 


Yesterday afternoon after leaving church, I took the nearest exit towards the unique bridge. I parked my car and took a long walk over to the gate. I made my way as close to the bridge as possible. I was able to see the whole bridge in it’s entirety. I did not see any water resting at the bottom of the bridge. There was this massive humongous field of concrete throughout the entire area. For a minute I thought, this is some kind of dried up ancient man-made river where water no longer runs anymore. There was a guy taking a jog. Once he stopped, he walked over to the gate, stood there and took a glance at the bridge as well. I asked him out of curiosity, “What is this place?” He explained to me that this particular place is known as the Sepulveda Dam. His name is Dan. He has resided in Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley) for the past 28 years. Dan disclosed plenty of stories about the Sepulveda Dam and the purpose of why the Dam was built.

The Sepulveda Dam was built in the 1940s by Engineers of the U.S. Army. The Army’s intention of building the dam is to constrain water floods in the winter. The Sepulveda Dam located in San Fernando Valley was built after the floods in 1938 on the Los Angeles River. 144 people were killed during the time of the Los Angeles River flood before the Dam was erected. In mid 1938, the city decided to call in the Army Corps of Engineers to channelize the dam off the Los Angeles River. 1941, the Sepulveda Dam was completed. The flood took place shortly before World War II.  After the Los Angeles River flood in 1914, the City of Los Angeles decided to start a project to create a series of small dams along the Los Angeles River and it’s stream. The Sepulveda Dam did it’s job without incident for the 28 years until 1969 when the L.A. River jump it’s banks causing millions of dollars in damage. In 1988 the L.A. River’s banks were raised to avoid another incident. In 94’ a hundred year flood occured in the Los Angeles River. The flood caused the deaths of 3 people and damaged the Sepulveda Dam. The dam was recovered and went without incident for another 11 years until the L.A. River jumped it’s banks in 2005. Since 2005 there has been no flooding in the Los Angeles metro area.


I’m glad I finally was able to receive a little bit of knowledge about the Sepulveda Dam. Dan also mentioned to me that plenty of movie reels has been shot and recorded there, movies you are familiar with like; ‘The Fast and Furious’, 'Iron man 2’, ‘The Italian Job’ etc. It’s an interesting place to visit. Recreational parks are there along with jogging trails & bike trails. If you’re ever in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, the Sepulveda Dam is a pretty descent place to sight see.

-Renix Graham, III
www.AbsoluteWater4theWise.com