Editing Lake San Marcos, California (section)

==Geography==
Lake San Marcos is an unincorporated area of [[San Diego County, California|San Diego County]], surrounded by the [[San Marcos, California|City of San Marcos]]. It is a resort-based community surrounding the Lake San Marcos [[reservoir]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the CDP has a total area of {{convert|1.8|sqmi|km2}}.  {{convert|1.7|sqmi|km2}} of it is land and {{convert|0.1|sqmi|km2}} of it (4.76%) is water. The lake after which the area is named is a large artificial body of water originally created for purposes of irrigation and watering cattle; today, however, it is used primarily for recreational and commercial purposes. The lake was created by a concrete dam built between 1946 and 1951.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Baker|first=Jacque|title=Images of America Lake San Marcos|publisher=Arcadia Publishing Library Editions|year=2014|isbn=1531676987|pages=11–12}}</ref>