Report: Santa Clara Reservoir May Not Withstand Major Quake
MORGAN HILL (KCBS) - A new report showed the largest reservoir in Santa Clara County could "slump" in a major earthquake and cause severe flooding, and water experts are taking immediate action.
The aging Anderson Reservoir is simply not strong enough to withstand an earthquake magnitude 7.25 or higher within two miles of the dam, which is holding back billions of gallons of water.
KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:
"The big concern that we have is that we don't want the dam to overtop with the water because that would cause erosion of the dam, and could cause the catastrophic failure that everybody worries about," said Frank Maitski with the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Dam Safety Program.
Maitsky said the water district will immediately lower the water level in the reservoir to 57-feet below the crest, so that if the dam does slump downward, the water won't spill over the top. That's the short term fix; in the long-term the dam will have to be fixed, said Maitsk, and it won't be cheap.
"It is in the tens of millions, and maybe upward to the hundreds of millions to fix these two problems," said Maitsky.
The lower capacity in the reservoir will also negatively impact the region's water supply.
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