BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Board Work Study Session: Dam Safety Program.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Receive, review, and discuss the information on the Dam Safety Program.
Body
SUMMARY:
The District owns and operates fourteen dams and ten reservoirs in Santa Clara County. The District dams and reservoirs were funded and constructed for water conservation, but also provide incidental flood management, recreation, and environmental benefits. Dam safety regulatory requirements, Board policies, and obligations due to dam ownership set direction for the Dam Safety Program.
Drivers for the program include the following Board's Ends Policies and CEO Interpretation Strategies:
* E-1 - The mission of the District is a healthy, safe, and enhanced quality of living in Santa Clara County.
* S-2.1.2.2 - Manage, operate and maintain dams and reservoir assets to maximize reliability, to minimize life cycle costs and to minimize impacts to the environment.
* S-2.1.2.3 - Aggressively implement dam remediation projects.
As a responsible dam owner, the District operates a comprehensive dam safety program to ensure public safety and operational availability of the reservoirs. This report describes components of the Dam Safety Program and updates the Board on its current status.
A detailed description of the Dam Safety Program is included as Attachment 1. The attachment describes the following four operational elements of the program - 1) Surveillance and monitoring; 2) Inspection and maintenance; 3) Emergency preparedness and response; and, 4) Special engineering studies. Attachment 1 also provides information on the status of seismic stability evaluations of District dams, and the retrofit projects resulting from these studies.
The seismic stability evaluations of Anderson, Almaden, Calero, Guadalupe, Stevens Creek and Lenihan Dams have been completed. The studies conclude that the embankments for Anderson, Calero and Guadalupe Dams requir...
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