The 2015 recreational boating season is already under way, but how long it will continue in Morgan Hill remains a guessing game due to the severe drought progressively decimating local water supplies and a state-mandated deadline to retrofit Anderson Dam.
“It opened April 15 and it will stay open probably through the summer, but we don’t know how much longer after that,” said Tamara Clark-Shear with the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department.
Clark-Shear said staff is in constant contact with Santa Clara Valley Water District officials regarding the distribution of water and she wouldn’t be surprised “at a moment’s notice” if recreational boating season was forced to close prematurely before the Oct. 14 end date.
“We have a launching ramp, so the water level has to be high enough to allow the trailers to launch the boats safely,” Clark-Shear said. “It’s contingent on the lake (water) level.”
If Anderson’s water level drops to where boats cannot be launched, Calero Reservoir and Coyote Lake are two other options for boaters that will remain open as long as those water levels are at a suitable level, Clark-Shear added.
Even if Anderson—a hotbed for boating activities especially through the summer months—holds steady at about 50 percent filled to capacity, an inevitable $200 million dam retrofitting project will cease any water activities. That project, which will require the reservoir to be almost completely drained, is scheduled to begin in Spring 2017 with an estimated completion date between November and December 2020.
Anderson Dam, built in the 1950s, was classified as seismically unsound by the state in 2009—forcing the SCVWD to make the tough call of designing a retrofit/modernization project that would halt recreational boating and all water activities there for several years.
“We’re under pressure from the state Division of Dam Safety to get it retrofitted,” said Dennis Kennedy, who sits on the SCVWD’s board of directors. “It’s kind of a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation.”
Water officials have requested an extension from the state for pushing out the deadline for completing the Anderson Dam retrofitting project, according to Kennedy.
“We’re negotiating to see if there is any wiggle room and, to my knowledge, we haven’t gotten an answer yet whether we can get an extension,” Kennedy said.
What complicates matters even more is Anderson is being used as an emergency reserve for water being pumped from San Luis Reservoir, Kennedy added. When, and if, Anderson is drained for construction, that water will be sent to either the county’s water treatment plants, other reservoirs or creeks.
“However, if the drought continues, there will be no water to drain,” noted SCVWD spokeswoman Colleen Valles.
Local boater Terry Darwood, who tries to take his family of four and some friends out on his 23-foot Malibu boat at least twice a season, said Anderson is a “local and easy” choice close to his Morgan Hill home.
“If we go to a lake that’s any distance away, it’s a couple of hours drive just to get there and it’s an all-day event if you do that,” said Darwood, who goes out on Coyote Lake as well. “Anderson is just so close. It’s five, 10 minutes away. You can go out for an hour or two and then come home.”
As the Memorial Day Weekend approaches, boaters like Darwood come out in numbers to enjoy water activities such as kneeboarding and waterskiing or a simple, relaxing day out on the lake. No reservations are required to get out until Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25, according to Clark-Shear.
“During the summer, it’s extremely busy on the weekends,” Clark-Sheer noted.
Boatsman Kevin Pope, of Almaden Valley, was lucky enough to get out May 17 without a reservation and with only a limited number of other boats on the water. He arrived around 8 a.m. and stayed out until 4 p.m.
“It was a great day. Anderson is great if you get out there in the morning,” said Pope, who used to get out more often when his four children were younger. “We’d get there in 30 minutes, have a good day of boating and then get back to the house.”
The retrofit project will require explosions in the hills surrounding the body of water, kick up dust for several months and tear up a section of Cochrane Road which passes below the 60-year-old earthen dam, according to authorities.
“I don’t know of any other reservoirs that are in a similar situation as we are with Anderson. It is our primary storage (of state water),” Kennedy said.
Anderson is the largest of the water district’s reservoirs, and is in fact larger than all nine other SCVWD reservoirs combined. Original plans called for Anderson to be drained this year, according to Kennedy. But delays and changes in the engineering and design plans—which began in 2011—have pushed the anticipated start date to Spring 2017. That has also upped the cost some $15 million from an initial estimate of $185 million.
The project, the first seismic retrofitting project for SCVWD, has continued in the design and permit phase since mid-2013, according to Valles.
“If we have to give (the water reserve) up by proceeding with construction, we’re really hanging out there,” said Kennedy as far as dealing with the ongoing drought and managing a limited water supply. “Our staff is trying to get an extension to delay the start of the work.”
In 2011 the water district determined, after an independent study conducted two years earlier, that Anderson Dam would not withstand a major earthquake, and the crest of the dam could slump in such an event, leaving Morgan Hill underwater within minutes if the reservoir was full. Flooding could even reach Gilroy and San Jose, according to a 2009 independent study.
The district’s study determined this damage could occur in the event of a 7.2-magnitude earthquake on the Calaveras fault, which is about 1.2 miles east of the dam. Since 2009, as a precaution, the reservoir level has been maintained at least 25.5 feet below the crest of the spillway, which corresponds to a maximum of about two-thirds of the reservoir’s capacity. State and federal regulators have also restricted the reservoir’s level since 2009.
When you can boat: April 15 through Oct. 14 (7 days a week from 8 a.m. to half-hour before sunset)
Where you can boat: Calero, Coyote Lake, Anderson and Stevens Creek Reservoirs will be open to all boating.
Where you can’t boat: Lexington Reservoir will be closed to all boating due to low water level. Almaden, Chesbro, Sandy Wool, Cottonwood, Grant, Guadalupe, Uvas, and Vasona are closed indefinitely to boating, including model boats.
For updates on boating: Visit parks and rec website at sccgov.org or call (408) 355-2201
