San Dieguito Watershed

The San Dieguito River watershed is a drainage area of approximately 346 square miles in west-central San Diego County. The watershed includes portions of the cities of Del Mar, Escondido, Poway, San Diego, and Solana Beach, and unincorporated San Diego County. In terms of land area, the majority of the watershed (79.8%) is within the unincorporated jurisdiction. The San Dieguito River watershed is presently divided into vacant/ undeveloped (54%), parks/ open space (29 %), and urban (18%) land uses. Nearly half of the vacant land area is open to future development, most of which is zoned for residential usage. The current watershed population is approximately 125,000 however; this level is projected increase to over 210,000 residents by 2015. The watershed extends through a diverse array of habitats from its eastern headwaters in the Volcan Mountains to the outlet at the San Dieguito Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean. There are several important natural areas within the watershed that sustain a number of threatened and endangered species. Among these are the 55-mile long, 80,000 acre San Dieguito River Park, the 150 acre San Dieguito Lagoon, and five water storage reservoirs including Lake Hodges, Lake Sutherland, and Lake Poway.
Hydrologic Areas:	Solana Beach, Hodges, San Pasqual, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Ysabel
Major Water Bodies:	San Dieguito River, San Dieguito Lagoon, and Lake Hodges
If you would like to select one of these major water bodies as your collection site, follow these instructions to get the information you will need for the registration form: Copy the name of the water body (e.g., San Marcos Creek). Go to www.topozone.com and paste the water body name in the place name field. Select CA and click the Search button. The results will look similar to the screenshot below: The information you will need to write down or copy from the results are: Type: the water body type. USGS Quad: the Nearest City field on the registration form. Lat: the latitude. Lon: the longitude. Enter the information into the Collection Site Information section of the registration form. If you need assistance in selecting a collection site, please contact us. We'll be happy to help you find a site that's as close to your group' or school's location as possible.