Every year, Valley Water updates its funding plan for the critical infrastructure projects necessary to meet Santa Clara County’s needs. The Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Five-Year Plan is a detailed document that outlines the funding for the planning, design and construction of water-related infrastructure.
Valley Water is committed to transparency and public engagement as we develop the plan. To ensure that our initiatives align with community values and priorities, we will host meetings and presentations to inform and involve residents in decision-making.
A significant portion of our county’s water supply infrastructure is approaching 50 to 60 years old. To ensure each facility continues to function as intended, Valley Water is concentrating the CIP on maintaining, replacing, and upgrading its existing infrastructure.
The FY 2026-2030 CIP features 36 water supply projects. Here’s a look at some of those projects:
Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project
The project plans, designs, and constructs improvements to seismically retrofit Anderson Dam to modern-day safety standards. Valley Water will replace most of the existing dam embankment and strengthen and increase the capacity of the existing spillway as part of the project.
Rebuilding Anderson Dam will allow Valley Water to fill the reservoir and ensure reliable water storage and delivery. Before lowering water levels to 3% for the current tunnel project, Valley Water had been operating the reservoir at around 70% capacity due to a seismic restriction.
Valley Water reached a major milestone in the summer of 2024 when construction crews completed excavation of the final stretch of a 1,736-foot-long tunnel next to Anderson Dam.
Rinconada Water Treatment Plant Reliability Improvement Project
The Rinconada Water Treatment Plant was built in the late 1960s, and much of its equipment is reaching the end of its useful life. The Reliability Improvement Project aims to retrofit, upgrade, and/or replace key equipment at the plant and addresses the areas of raw water ozone, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and redundant disinfection.
The work will also increase the plant’s treatment capacity from 80 million gallons of water a day to 100 million gallons a day and help Valley Water meet increasingly stringent standards for water quality, seismic stability, and safety.
The plant’s four original clarifiers were demolished in 2024, and construction has begun on the new filter structure and chlorine contact basin. The project is on schedule, and all phases are targeted for completion by late 2029.
Cross Valley Pipeline Extension Project
The Cross Valley Pipeline Extension Project (CVPEP) is designed to ensure Coyote Creek and the nearby Coyote Percolation Ponds in San Jose have enough water while construction occurs at Anderson Reservoir.
By adding a new 7,100-foot section to the existing Cross Valley Pipeline, the project can supply up to 22,000 gallons of water per minute directly to Coyote Creek, just downstream of Santa Clara County’s Ogier Ponds. This increase in water will support local wildlife and vegetation and improve the Coyote Percolation Ponds, also known as the Metcalf Ponds. The water from these ponds seeps into the ground, helping to maintain a healthy groundwater supply.
The CVPEP construction was completed in November 2024, but additional funds are required for maintenance work in the next couple of years.
Upcoming meetings
The timeline for this process began on January 14, 2025, with a Valley Water Board work-study session dedicated to reviewing the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) preliminary five-year plan and preliminary groundwater production charges. Following this, on February 25, 2025, staff will present the draft plan to the Valley Water Board for their approval.
Once the draft is approved, we will enter a 60-day public review period. This period is an opportunity for residents to provide feedback on the draft plan, ensuring that the voices of our community are heard and considered. We encourage all community members to participate actively in this review process.
On April 8, 2025, we will hold a public hearing to formally receive feedback from the public. The outreach process will conclude with the closure of the public hearing in May 2025, when our staff will present the final CIP fiscal year 2026-2030 five-year plan and the fiscal year 2026-27 biennial budget to the Valley Water Board for approval.