A state assembly bill that would fast-track the seismic retrofitting of Anderson Dam in northeast Morgan Hill unanimously passed committee last week.
The Expedited Dam Safety for Silicon Valley Act on May 15 passed the Assembly’s Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. The bill was authored by Assemblyman Robert Rivas and sponsored by Valley Water, the water management agency for Santa Clara Valley.
“Valley Water’s highest priority is to reduce the dam safety risk and move as quickly as possible to reconstruct Anderson Dam,” said Nai Hsueh, Chair of Valley Water’s board of directors. “The bipartisan vote supporting AB 3005 in committee today shows the legislature wants to move this critical life safety project forward.”
If the bill passes the full legislature and gains the governor’s signature, it will shorten the timeline to start and complete a comprehensive seismic retrofitting of Anderson Dam. In February, federal authorities demanded that the local district start to drain Anderson Reservoir by Oct. 1, citing earthquake dangers. Also in February, Rivas introduced the bill to speed up the draining of the reservoir and reconstruction of the dam.
Valley Water scheduled a community meeting on the fast-tracked project timeline for from 5:30pm on May 28. District staff plan to use that meeting to discuss the directive from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to drain the reservoir by Oct. 1. The conversation will also center on the district’s plan to begin construction on a low-level, larger outlet tunnel as soon as possible.
Several years ago, state and federal dam safety regulators determined that Anderson Dam would not withstand a major earthquake along the Calaveras Fault.
Valley Water has thus kept the reservoir’s water level less than one-third full to reduce the risk of flooding if such an earthquake occurs.
The Anderson Dam retrofit project is designed to withstand major earthquakes. Valley Water staff have estimated the project will cost about $550 million.
“Parts of the water cycle and how money and water are used”
How can we more expediently introduce substantially more surface and collected water from local reservoirs into the aquifers?
It’s known
>that that some stormwater sheetflow and creek & river flow does go through some natural percolation process.
>flood control is a major concern.
On a few other notes.
How is “Advanced Purified Water” from POTW’s going to be used in potable, consumable, injectable, transportable and percolated forms?
How is Advanced Puified Water currently being used?
How does Anderson help bank water?
Would Anderson benefit from Advanced Purified Wster in the future.
Explain how Valley Water banks water.
Explain the banking of water..
Does banking of water improve an underground aquifer’s capacity?
?
> Valley Water staff have estimated the project will cost about $550 million.
I discern that the involved bureaucracies are enjoying this “crisis” just a little too much.
Was the retrofit really needed?
If it was really needed, is the necessary expenditure to solve the problem really a half billion dollars plus?
Or, did Nancy Pelosi somehow slip in a few tens of millions of goodies for Planned Parenthood or NPR?
I would like a much better explanation of what is really broken, and of what really needs to be fixed.
Is the problem just a leaky faucet somewhere, and did we hire a crew of paranoids and drunken sailors to fix it?
$550 million to fix it anyone going bet 1.5 billion before it stops leaking.
Remember this is the agency known as – – – – -“The Golden Spigot” cue sounds of money being pissed away
With the yuge influx of illegals every year (and every one of them needs water), and to avoid the rationing we had to endure in the ’80’s, we need a lot more water storage than we currently have. Filling Anderson reservoir is a short term fix at best.
It’s time to reverse the nonsensical, anti-human delay in completing the Auburn Dam. All the excuses for stopping work can easily be overcome, since that’s all they were; excuses to avoid finishing the job. There was never any good excuse.
The Auburn Dam would have increased NorCal’s water storage capacity by ≈50%. The state (that’s us) has already paid more than $1 billion to build it. But then hounding by the enviro lobby stopped work on the dam, and it’s been a big, ugly hole in the ground ever since. How does that improve our “environment?”
The enviro contingent wants everyone to think they’re holier than thou. Just ask any of them, they’ll tell you. But this is a perfect example that no one is perfect. There is no higher priority in this state than having an adequate water supply, but enviro do-gooders have sabotaged that every step of the way. What’s even worse is the conniving between the state and the enviro lobby’s lawyers, who get paid by unwilling taxpayers for cutting off the water supply and storage the Auburn Dam would have provided.
With all the initiatives cluttering the ballot box, maybe one of the state’s mega-wealthy folks would consider adding one to finish building the Auburn Dam. Then we’d find out just how numerous those enviro hotshots really are.
With the yuge influx of illegals every year (and every one of them needs water), and to avoid the rationing we had to endure in the ’80’s, we need a lot more water storage than we currently have. Filling Anderson reservoir is a short term fix at best.
It’s time to reverse the nonsensical, anti-human delay in completing the Auburn Dam. All the excuses for stopping work can easily be overcome, since that’s all they were; excuses to avoid finishing the job. There was never any good excuse.
The Auburn Dam was intended to increase NorCal’s water storage capacity by ≈50%. The state (that’s us) has already paid more than $1 billion to build it. But then hounding by the enviro lobby stopped work on the dam, and it’s been a big, ugly hole in the ground ever since. How does that improve our “environment?”
The enviro contingent wants everyone to think they’re holier than thou. Just ask any of them, they’ll tell you. But this is a perfect example that no one is perfect, and they’re far from it. There is no higher priority in this state than having an adequate water supply, but enviro do-gooders have sabotaged that every step of the way. Even worse is the conniving between the state and the enviro lobby’s lawyers, who get paid by unwilling taxpayers for cutting off the water supply and storage the Auburn Dam would have provided.
With all the initiatives cluttering the ballot box, maybe one of the state’s mega-wealthy folks would consider adding one to finish building the Auburn Dam. Then we’d find out just how numerous those enviro hotshots really are.
(My apologies, I used the closing command for bold. Only “yuge” should be in italics.
If there’s a moderator lurking, please change from /b to /i. Thanks).