By John L. Varela, Valley Water Director, District 1
It has been just over two years since Valley Water broke ground at Anderson Dam with the promise to protect the public and secure Santa Clara County’s water supply. Since then, our agency has made tremendous progress on this vital public safety and water supply project.
Currently, our work at the site is focused on building a new, larger outlet tunnel next to the dam. As of mid-October, contractors excavated more than 1,000 feet of the 1,736-foot-long tunnel, which will provide greater control over reservoir water levels. We anticipate the work on the outlet tunnel will take another two years to finish, and once that is done, Valley Water will begin rebuilding the dam and spillway.
Rebuilding Anderson Dam is Valley Water’s top priority. This project will help ensure public safety, protect our regional water supply and provide environmental benefits for generations to come.
At the beginning of September 2023, our agency reached a milestone with the release of the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project Draft Environmental Impact Report. This document identifies environmental impacts associated with our plan to rebuild Anderson Dam to modern-day seismic safety standards. Following this document’s release, our agency held a successful and well-attended public meeting in Morgan Hill to provide information and give the community an opportunity to share thoughts and concerns. I’d like to thank everyone who attended and provided us their feedback.
Valley Water also recently released a terrific video highlighting our tunneling work. You can view the video on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@Valleywater/videos.
I know this project is of great interest to our community. We look forward to keeping you informed of our progress.
Too bad you didn’t start this process in 1989!!!!!
Why has work started before the EIR is made final?
Why has work started before the final EIR is approved?
Work began on the Anderson Dam Tunnel Project in response to a directive from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to implement interim risk reduction measures and lower the reservoir to 3% of capacity (as low we can with the existing outlet) and begin working on the new diversion tunnel. The directive is an emergency order which is a qualifying exemption category for CEQA. That’s why our agency didn’t need an EIR to start the tunnel work.
Valley Water released the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on Sept. 1, 2023, which identifies environmental impacts associated with Valley Water’s plan to rebuild Anderson Dam to modern-day seismic safety standards. Valley Water has not yet started work on the Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit project.
Fantastic photo showing the impact of the long geologic history of tectonics. I hope the District might consider additional online photos or maybe even a published keepsake with photos from this incredible project. The geology is fantastic. The work is amazing. The purpose is absolutely a necessity given the proximity of the Hayward-Calaveras strand of the San Andreas fault system.