The San Gabriel River, highlighted in red (on the right). The Los Angeles River is highlighted in red on the left

The San Gabriel River flows 75-miles through southern Los Angeles County, California. It rises in the San Gabriel Mountains, flowing southwest into and through the western San Gabriel Valley before turning southward at the Whittier Narrows to enter the Los Angeles Basin. It forms the boundary between Los Angeles and Orange counties for a brief stretch before it empties into the Pacific Ocean between Long Beach and Seal Beach. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1739x1691, 3547 KB) Summary Map of the Los Angeles Basin with the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers highlighted in red Underlying map is an aerial map obtained from NASA (original: http://earthobservatory. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1739x1691, 3547 KB) Summary Map of the Los Angeles Basin with the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers highlighted in red Underlying map is an aerial map obtained from NASA (original: http://earthobservatory. ... The Los Angeles River, highlighted in red (on the left). ... Los Angeles County is a county in California with 10,179,716 residents (as of July 2004)[1], the most populous county in the United States. ... San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains are located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, USA. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the Mojave Desert. ... The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the peninsular and transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles. ... Official website: http://www. ... County Los Angeles County, California Area  - Total  - Water 170. ... Seal Beach is a city in Orange County, California. ...

Like most rivers in southern California, the San Gabriel River today bears little resemblance to the river it was before the arrival of early Spanish settlers. It is dammed four times along its length: twice in the San Gabriel Mountains to create reservoirs; at the Santa Fe Dam in the Santa Fe Dam Flood Control Basin in Irwindale; and with the nearby Rio Hondo (to which it is also connected by a short channel) at the Whittier Narrows Dam, between the cities of South El Monte and Pico Rivera. Its channel is lined with concrete for most of its length below the mountains. These alterations were made in response to disastrous flash floods in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During periods of heavy rainfall, the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can shift flows between the Rio Hondo (a tributary of the Los Angeles River) and the San Gabriel River. Southern California Downtown Los Angeles Skyline Southern California, sometimes abbreviated SoCal or colloquially, the Southland, is an informal name for the megalopolis and nearby desert that occupies the southern-most quarter of the state of California. ... Alta California (Upper California) was formed in 1804 when the province of California, then a part of the Spanish colony of New Spain, was divided in two along the line separating the Franciscan missions in the north from the Dominican missions in the south. ... Scrivener Dam, in Canberra, Australia, was engineered to withstand a once-in-5000-years flood event A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment. ... A reservoir is an artificial lake created by flooding land behind a dam. ... The Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area is a park located in Irwindale, California in the San Gabriel Valley and nestled among the gravel quarries in the area. ... Irwindale is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. ... The Rio Hondo is a tributary of the Los Angeles River in Los Angeles County, California, approximately 20 miles long. ... South El Monte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ... Pico Rivera is a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. ... Placing a concrete floor for a commercial building. ... A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas, rivers and streams that is caused by the intense rainfall associated with a thunderstorm, or multiple training thunderstorms. ... Rain falling For other uses see Rain (disambiguation). ... United States Army Corps of Engineers logo The United States Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, is made up of some 34,600 civilian and 650 military men and women. ... The Rio Hondo is a tributary of the Los Angeles River in Los Angeles County, California, approximately 20 miles long. ...

As with the similarly modified Los Angeles River, the San Gabriel is a notorious symbol of environmental depredation, and efforts to restore its ecosystem have had only limited success due to water pollution and fertilizer runoff. The Los Angeles River, highlighted in red (on the left). ... Italic text Water pollution Water pollution is a term that describes any adverse effect upon water bodies (lakes, rivers, the sea, groundwater etc. ... Fertilizers or fertilisers are compounds given to plants with the intention of promoting growth; they are usually applied either via the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar spraying, for uptake through leaves. ... Run-off, composed of a mixture of water and soil along with any other organic or inorganic substances that may exist in the land, is the product of precipitation, snowmelt, over-irrigation, or other water coming in contact with the earth and carrying matter to streams, rivers, lakes, and other...

External links

• Amigos de los Rios (an organization whose goal is to create a necklace of parks connecting the San Gabriel River, the Rio Hondo and Whittier Narrows)

• Documentary on the San Gabriel River, Ya Don't Miss the Water (A five part video that documents the major ecological, political, and social problems of the community - approximately 2 million people surround and use the River's water.)