Workers are about 80% finished digging a new 1,736-foot-long outlet tunnel at Anderson Dam near Morgan Hill. The work is part of a $2.3 billion project to bring the dam, which was built in 1950 and holds back Santa Clara County’s largest reservoir, up to modern earthquake standards. The Santa Clara Valley Water District, which is overseeing the project, says work to tear down the old dam and rebuild a new one will begin in 2026, with completion scheduled for 2032.
Workers stand at the entrance of a tunnel being built at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Ryan McCarter, Deputy Operating Officer, shows news crews the inside of a an outlet tunnel being built at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Ryan McCarter, Deputy Operating Officer, shows news crews the inside of a an outlet tunnel being built at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
A construction site building an outlet tunnel at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. Workers are about 80% finished digging a new 1,736-foot-long outlet tunnel at Anderson Dam near Morgan Hill. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Flowers bloom at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. Workers are about 80% finished digging a new 1,736-foot-long outlet tunnel at Anderson Dam near Morgan Hill. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
A Valley Water worker holds a W65 Self-Rescuer, an Air-Purifying Respi rators for one-time escape use providing protection against toxic carbon monoxide (CO) and other gases emitted in underground mine fires or explosions, that everyone working going in the outlet tunnel has to carry at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Cow drink from Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. Workers are about 80% finished digging a new 1,736-foot-long outlet tunnel at Anderson Dam near Morgan Hill. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
A tunnel is being built at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. Workers are about 80% finished digging a new 1,736-foot-long outlet tunnel at Anderson Dam near Morgan Hill. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, left, and Morgan Hill Mayor Mark Turner, center, walk with director of Valley Water, John Varela, at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
Valley Water workers stand at the entrance of a tunnel being built at Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on Friday, May 10, 2024. Workers are about 80% finished digging a new 1,736-foot-long outlet tunnel at Anderson Dam near Morgan Hill. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
