by Bob Walsh
Anderson Reservoir is, interestingly enough, retained by Anderson Dam. This is the largest reservoir in Santa Clara County. But it won't be later this year. It will be non-existent.
The 240-foot earth dam, built 70 years ago, is between Morgan Hill and San Jose. The feds are ordering the lake reduced significantly, and drained down totally by the end of this year. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is of the opinion that the dam is not earthquake safe and could rupture, doing bad things to people and property down stream. If the lake were full when the dam failed it would send an 8 foot wall of water thru San Jose. That would be bad.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District owns the dam. The lake holds not quite 90,000 acre feet of water, which is more storage than all the other nine dams they own combined. The draining of the dam will put a lot more water than normal into Coyote Creek, which runs thru San Jose.
Rebuilding the dam would cost close to $600 million.
The district supplies water to 2 million people in Santa Clara county. Much of it comes from wells. Those wells are in good shape right now but the loss will still have a negative impact on things. People probably will not have to stop taking showers. Probably. Yet.
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