The meeting will be held Thursday, June 6, 6:30 – 8pm at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center Hiram Room, 17000 Monterey Road.

Two years ago, the cost of the dam project—required for earthquake protection and improved flood control for the Coyote Creek watershed—was estimated at $648 million.

After a tunnel is completed, crews will begin construction of a new dam embankment, which will continue until 2032. Anderson Reservoir will remain empty until the project is complete. 

Crews will soon begin digging 24-foot tunnel into the Anderson reservoir near Morgan Hill.

The lawsuit settled this month by Valley Water with more than 200 property owners along Coyote Creek stemmed from a February 2017 flood when the Anderson Dam in Morgan Hill overflowed, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents in South San Jose.

The water shortage emergency hopes to reduce water use countywide by 15% of 2019 levels.

The badly needed project to retrofit the Anderson Dam directly threatens several thousand coyote ceanothus plants.

Valley Water began draining the reservoir in October in response to a directive from federal regulators aiming to expedite the dam retrofit.

Assembly Bill 3005 would have hastened the rebuild and strengthening of Anderson Dam, which is long overdue for a seismic retrofit.

Anderson Reservoir will be closed to boating, fishing and all recreational activities for the next several years starting Oct. 1.

The fish—classified as threatened species—needed to be relocated before the agency starts to drain Anderson Dam on Oct. 1.

AB 3005, dubbed the Expedited Dam Safety for Silicon Valley Act, was authored by Assemblyman Robert Rivas (D-Hollister).

In preparation for a series of storms, local agencies have stocked up on sandbags and are monitoring rivers and creeks for debris blockages.

Since an historic flood in February, San Jose and the water district have spent the past nine months bolstering defenses against future disasters.

Silicon Valley’s flood protection agency might have prevented the Anderson Dam from overflowing earlier this year, but failed to act.

Newly released emails show the SCV Water District and city were communicating well ahead of the flood. Then the communication ended.