Baldwin Hills Reservoir

The Baldwin Hills Reservoir was a man-made water storage basin located on a low hilltop in Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, California. It was constructed between 1947 and 1951 by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on a small active fault line. The design consisted of four layers above the rock foundation: an asphalt lining, a gravel drain basin, compacted clay, and a final asphalt layer on the top. The fault lines were considered during planning.

Failure

On December 14, 1963, a small crack developed in the reservoir wall. The surrounding portion of the wall was quickly eroded straight through, emptying 250 million gallons of water into the surrounding neighborhood in a few hours. In the process, 277 homes were destroyed and 5 lives were lost. Frantic rescue efforts avoided a more significant loss of life. The reservoir failure was attributed to subsidence caused by over-exploitation of the nearby Inglewood Oil Field.

The reservoir is now land and now part of Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.

External links

* [http://www.lafire.com/famous_fires/631214_BaldwinHillsReservoir/121463_BaldwinHillsReservoir.htm Firemen Save 18 Lives in Baldwin Hills Flood]
* [http://www.stanford.edu/~meehan/la/baldwin.htm Ground Rupture in the Baldwin Hills]
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/surroundings/la-surroundings-baldwin_dam-video,0,1672263.realvideo?coll=la-adelphia-right-rail LA Times video footage of dam failure]
* [http://www.geology.ucdavis.edu/~cowen/~GEL115/115CHXXsubsidence.html Man-made Subsidence]