The truth is our infrastructure is literally falling apart all
around us. Just consider the following facts about America’s
infrastructure from the Pew Research Center website:
The truth is our infrastructure is literally falling apart all around us.
Just consider the following facts about America’s infrastructure from the Pew Research Center website:
– According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, more than 25 percent of America’s nearly 600,000 bridges need significant repairs or are burdened with more traffic than they were designed to carry.
– According to the Federal Highway Administration, about a third of America’s major roadways are in substandard condition – a significant factor in a third of the more than 43,000 traffic fatalities in the United States each year.
– Officials at the Association of State Dam Safety Officials found that the number of dams in the United States that could fail has grown 134 percent since 1999 to 3,346, and more than 1,300 of those are considered “high-hazard” – meaning that their collapse would threaten lives.
– More than a third of all dam failures or near failures since 1874 have happened in just the past decade.
Getting the picture?
Locally, the 60-year-old Anderson Dam needs seismic upgrades. The need for construction evolved from updated seismic standards and the fact that Anderson Dam – along with seven other Santa Clara Valley Water District run reservoirs – haven’t been evaluated against current standards. Though the probability of a dam failure occurring is low, the consequences of failure are extremely high. If a large earthquake hits within 1.25 miles of Anderson Dam, downtown Morgan Hill will be underwater within 15 minutes.
In addition to public safety, the district needs to be able to keep the water level as near as 100 percent as possible. The past two winters have brought more than 100 percent of normal rainfall, yet the district can only fill the reservoir to 68 percent of capacity. Lower than normal rainfall will occur again, and the district needs to replenish groundwater.
The district estimates repair work to cost about $110 million, but more accurate numbers won’t be available until a planning study is complete.
And while we’re at it, maybe the Water District and County Parks can look for ways to bring in additional revenue. A concession stand could work and even creating an assessment district to allow private docks for residents at a steep price may be feasible.
The time to fix the dam is now. It’s always cheaper to pay for preventative maintenance and upgrades than repairs after a catastrophe.
