Carbon Canyon Dam

Carbon Canyon Dam is a dam at the northern edge of Orange County, California. The dam is approximately 4mi east of the city of Brea and approximately 12mi north of the city of Santa Ana. The drainage area above the dam is 19.3sqmi and is encompassed entirely within the Puente and Chino Hills. Carbon Canyon Creek flows in a generally southwesterly direction onto the coastal Orange County Plain, joins Coyote Creek, and then flows into the San Gabriel River.Related control facilitiesOCEMA maintains a series of flood retarding basins along the Carbon Creek Channel downstream of Carbon Canyon Dam. These basins are used to retard flood flows in the urbanized area downstream of Carbon Canyon Dam. The Carbon Canyon Diversion Channel serves to relay water from the Miller Basin Complex to the Santa Ana River. Miller Stilling Basin, the most upstream of the facilities, is the location point from which flow from Carbon Canyon Channel is diverted into Carbon Canyon Diversion Channel or Carbon Creek Channel. During periods of low flow, water is directed into the Diversion Channel, which flows into the lower Santa Ana River Channel and its attendant groundwater recharge facilities. Higher flows which fill Miller Basin are directed into Carbon Creek Channel and flow west into the next series of retarding basins on their way to the San Gabriel River Channel.