The ongoing project to restore Anderson Dam to functionality has been delayed by almost a year, extending the project’s completion to 2033 and increasing its estimated cost by approximately $100 million, according to Valley Water.
The delay is due in part to a new schedule published by the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee for the completion of an important Environmental Impact Statement associated with the decommissioning of the dam’s aging hydroelectric plant.
“This process is essential to support the issuance of a conditional surrender order for our project,” said Valley Water spokesperson Matt Keller in an email. “Unfortunately, FERC’s timeline for completing the EIS means that the order will be delayed by about three months. While this may seem like a short delay, it impacts the construction schedule significantly.”
The second reason for the year-long delay, Keller said, is weather. In order to prevent the worksite from being flooded during a crucial phase, it must be undertaken during the dry months of the year. The three-month delay caused by FERC would push that phase into the range of wetter weather, necessitating the further delay into January.
“While this delay may be disappointing, it is also not uncommon for major infrastructure projects such as this,” said John Varela, Valley Water District 1 Director. “We must continue to invest in updating our aging infrastructure for public safety and water supply needs to ensure it can continue to provide safe, clean water to Santa Clara County for our kids and grandkids.”
The estimated $100 million increase to the massive project’s price tag is due to projected inflation, according to a newsletter released by Valley Water. This is the latest in a long series of price increases that have occurred during the 12-year-plus lifetime of the project, which is located off Cochrane Road in east Morgan Hill.
The most recent increase was announced in November, when the cost rose from $1.2 billion to $2.3 billion. Prior to 2022, the cost was projected at $648 million. The original price tag was $200 million in 2012.
Originally built in the 1950s, Anderson Dam was found in 2016 to be seismically unsafe in the event of a major earthquake. Geologists found that if an earthquake of magnitude 7.25 were to occur on the nearby Calaveras Fault, it could cause the dam to rupture and send a 30-foot “wall of water” downstream that could cause devastation as far away as San Jose and Monterey.
These findings resulted in a significantly expanded scope for the Anderson Dam retrofit project, requiring that the dam be brought down and rebuilt from the ground up. Later additions to the project included a new outlet to allow stormwater to quickly be drained from the reservoir in case of emergency, and a diversion outlet structure designed to dissipate the energy of a high-volume flow.
Anderson Reservoir represents more than half of Valley Water’s surface storage capacity, with a greater total volume than all of the agency’s other reservoirs combined at 90,000 acre-feet of storage. Completing the retrofit and returning Anderson to service remains among the agency’s top priorities.
Despite the delays to the project timeline, Valley Water does not anticipate any changes to the construction activity around the dam as other parts of the project continue to move forward during the delay.
“The construction of the FERC Order Compliance Project Risk Reduction Measures and Conservation Measures is ongoing and will not cease during the delay,” Keller said. “ADSRP construction is still expected to continue for approximately seven years, starting in early 2027 and continuing through 2033. We anticipate that park closure durations will remain consistent with original estimates during ADSRP construction.”
This is insane. Why don’t you actually tell the truth about how Morgan Hill people really think about this story think about the effects that it’s had on the kids that couldn’t go on this lake for years and years and years you really just don’t take anything into account in this story other than yourself. It’s embarrassing and a waste of our hard earned money that we get taxed 50% because of environmental groups like this one delaying the finish of the dam. I don’t know if you guys remember but just a couple weeks ago we had our warf in Santa Cruz go into the ocean…. Due to an environmental group for blocking preventative maintenance construction for over 20 years.
This has become a joke … which will completed first the train to nowhere or the dam that is filling politicians pockets as opposed to being finished ?? Project started at a cost of less than 200M in 2012 and is now projected at over 2.3B and more than 20+ years to complete … Can we get an official count of how many politicians and who are getting paid to drag this out for so long ??
Money grab…Big Time
2012 200 million dollars
2025 2.3 billion dollars
1150% increase in cost in 13 years time
They say it’s for the safety of the public’s drinking water,i thought that you could not eat the fish because of the mercury that leaches into the lake from the hills and other lakes that feed it.
We lived there for 24 years and neither of us remembers a hydroelectric plant at that dam.
I’m all about public safety, but the cost increases and the time delays over the years on this damn project are rediculous! And forget about the loss of over a decade of recreation on the lake, during this time our largest water reserve in this county gets drained into the bay!? Great job on the water conversion in the process! Not!
This is another way people waste and pocket our money not to mention the loss of our recreational area. The government in this state is the most corrupt in the country. Time to move somewhere else again.
Maybe DOGE needs to come take a look at the whole environmental process and Estimate ?
Maybe it can be EXPEDITED thru the New administration ( like LA water issues) before this becomes a deadly mistake?
As a 54 year resident of Morgan Hill this project is a joke. I would hope President Trump is aware of this fiasco! God help us if we have another fire!