The Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District oversees the maintenance and operations of Twitchell Dam. It helps recharge the groundwater basin and provides some protection from flooding.
About the Twitchell Dam
"Twitchell Reservoir is a reservoir in southern San Luis Obispo County, California. The reservoir has a capacity of 224,300 acre feet and is formed by Twitchell Dam on the Cuyama River about 66 miles from its headwaters in the Chumash Wilderness Area and about 6miles from its confluence with the Sisquoc River, where they form the Santa Maria River. Twitchell dam was built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation between 1956 and 1958. The original names were Vacquero Dam and Vacquero Reservoir, but they were changed to honor T. A. Twitchell of Santa Maria, a proponent of the project.
The dam and reservoir provide flood control and water conservation. The Central Coast of California only receives significant amounts of rainfall during the winter, this area averaging 14inches per year.
The water is stored in the reservoir during big winter storms and released as quickly as possible while still allowing it to percolate into the soil and recharge the groundwater. This means that the reservoir is usually far from full. It is estimated that the project increases reacharge by 20,000 acre feet per year."
Website Accesibilty Policy Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District
Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District is fully committed to providing accessible facilities, elements and
channels of communication to all members of the public. As part of this commitment, Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District
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
Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District 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,
Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District regularly scans its website to ensure ongoing compliance, and makes timely
changes to any inaccessible changes, if any are found. In our ongoing commitment to transparency, we make the
last three months' reports available to the public.
August 2021 Website Accessibility Compliance Report
July 2021 Website Accessibility Compliance Report
June 2021 Website Accessibility Compliance Report
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.
