Tujunga Wash
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Tujunga Wash is a stream in Los Angeles County, California. It is a tributary of the Los Angeles River, providing about a fifth of its flow, and drains about 225 square miles. It is called a wash because it is usually dry, especially the lower reaches, only carrying significant flows during and after storms, which usually only occur between November and April. The watershed includes Angeles National Forest and highly urbanized land in the northern portion of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
Tujunga Wash consists of two forks, both beginning in the San Gabriel Mountains. The upper portion of Big Tujunga Wash is called Tujunga Creek, or Big Tujunga Creek. It travels roughly east and several tributaries from the north and south join it as it flows to Big Tujunga Reservoir, formed by Big Tujunga Dam. Below the dam, the stream is called Big Tujunga Wash. It continues its eastward flow, enters San Fernando Valley and is met by Little Tujunga Wash a mile before reaching Hansen Reservoir, which is formed by Hansen Dam. Little Tujunga Wash comes from the north, draining the portion of the San Gabriel Mountains immediately north of Hansen Reservoir. Downstream of the dam, Tujunga Wash flows roughly south and is met halfway to its confluence with the Los Angeles River by Pacoima Wash, which drains the other side of the mountains that Little Tujunga Wash drains. Finally, Tujunga Wash meets the Los Angeles River near Studio City, California.
Big Tujunga Dam was built by the United States Forest Service and completed in 1931. Big Tujunga Reservoir can hold 5,960 acre-feet of water. Hansen Dam was built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers and completed in 1940. Hansen Reservoir can hold 74,100 acre-feet of water. Their primary purposes are flood control, although they also provide some groundwater recharge. Water cannot percolate in the lower portion of the watershed because it is so urbanized that there is little bare ground and streambeds have been transformed into concrete channels and the water flows too fast in the upper reaches of the watershed to sink into the ground very much. As a result, the majority of the water is discharged into the ocean.
