In the mid-1920s, the rapidly expanding populations of Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, San Leandro, Albany, Emeryville, El Cerrito, Richmond and Piedmont faced a water shortage. The answer was Pardee Dam, which would create Pardee Reservoir, on the Mokelumne River at Lancha Plana a few miles north of Valley Springs. The largest dam of its kind when work began in July 1927, 153,000 cubic yards of rock and earth had to be removed and more than 615,000 cubic yards of concrete utilized. Named after George Pardee, EBMUD’s president and a former mayor of Oakland as well as governor of California, the dam is 1,337 feet long at its crest, 244 feet wide at its base and 358 feet above the river bed. The reservoir covers 2,257 acres with a capacity of 197,950 acre-feet of water. At 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 23, 1929, the first stream of pure mountain-fed Mokelumne River water from the new man-made lake began to flow, ensuring the future growth of the East Bay.
by Sal Manna, 2010
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Website Accessibility Policy
Calaveras Heritage Council is fully committed to providing accessible facilities, elements and
channels of communication to all members of the public. As part of this commitment, Calaveras Heritage Council
has a policy of providing an accessible website compatible with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and
commercial screen reading software. All features of the website are coded to allow individuals with vision and
other impairments to understand and use the website to the same degree as someone without disabilities. We welcome
feedback and can often resolve issues in a timely manner if they arise.
If you need any special assistance or accommodations:
Calaveras Heritage Council has designated a compliance officer for website disability-related accommodations.
The compliance officer has received training in website accessibility and updates the site in accordance with those best
practices. Contact our accessibility officer to report an issue.
Compliance Procedures and Reports
In addition to testing with users with a wide range of disabilities and coding our website to WCAG standards,
Calaveras Heritage Council regularly scans its website to ensure ongoing compliance, and makes timely
changes to any inaccessible changes, if any are found.
Linked Documents and Third Parties
Please note that this site may link out to third-party websites, such as state or federal agencies, that do
not have accessible content. This site may also include documents provided by third parties included in our
agenda packets, for example. While we cannot control the accessibility of content provided by third parties,
we are happy to assist any member of the public with reading and accessing content on our site.