Visited on 4/12/2018 while traveling to Southern California for a work assignment, Elderberry Forebay bisects the lower portion of Castiac Lake. It is located at the upper end of the larger Castaic Lake and is separated from the lake by Elderberry Forebay Dam at its southern edge. Castaic Creek flows into this forebay and it is located in the Sierra Pelona Mountains of northwestern Los Angeles County, California, near the town of Castaic. This 450 acre forebay has a surface elevation of approximately 1,500 feet above sea level is the terminus of the West Branch California Aqueduct, though some comes from the 154 square miles Castaic Creek watershed above the dam. The aqueduct water comes from Pyramid Lake through the Angeles Tunnel and is used to power Castaic Power Plant, a pumped-storage hydroelectric facility on the northern end of the forebay. Water is mostly powering the turbines, rather than being pumped by them. Elderberry Forebay is a small reservoir in Los Angeles County, California, which serves as the pumping forebay of the Castaic Power Plant. Entering the northern end of the forebay is the west branch of the California Aqueduct, which connects the forebay to Pyramid Lake through the Angeles Tunnel.
A component of the California State Water Project, the reservoir was partitioned from Castaic Lake in 1974 to store water for pumped-storage hydroelectricity generation. During on-peak energy-demand hours, water flows 7.5 miles from Pyramid Lake through the Angeles Tunnel and then on to the turbines of the Castaic Power Plant, producing electricity. From there, the water flows into Elderberry Forebay. During off-peak hours (including nighttime and Sundays), water is pumped from the forebay, back through the tunnel and into Pyramid Lake.
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