MORGAN HILL
– A public agency’s effort to maximize use of the county’s water
supply has some Henry Coe State Park supporters worried that the
move could send waters lapping over the park’s boundaries and into
its canyons.
MORGAN HILL – A public agency’s effort to maximize use of the county’s water supply has some Henry Coe State Park supporters worried that the move could send waters lapping over the park’s boundaries and into its canyons.
A new reservoir near the 86,000-acre park or expansion of an existing one are two of several concepts floating in a state-funded study by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which is looking to sidestep an algae problem that can render water from the huge San Luis Reservoir off state Highway 152 relatively unusable here.
But park enthusiasts organizing as the Advocates for Coe Park say besides doing the unthinkable – violating the park’s boundaries – the plans would change and destroy the character of an unspoiled wilderness.
“In many ways, (Coe) represents what California was before any of us got here,” said Teddy Goodrich, a longtime Gilroy resident who has volunteered at Coe for more than 20 years and is the park’s historian. “It’s one of the last bastions of that sort of habitat.”
But district officials emphasize that nothing is set in stone yet – they’re trying to be proactive in ensuring future water supplies.
“A lot of people think we’re trying to get our hands on another water supply,” water district spokesman Mike DiMarco said. “What we’re trying to do is keep access to the supply we have today.”
At issue is the district’s so-called San Luis Low Point Improvement Project, the focus of a three-year, $14 million state-funded study targeting an ongoing supply problem at San Luis.
The reservoir, one of the largest in California, is a key component of the state’s complex water supply system and serves the Central Valley and Southern California, as well as Santa Clara and San Benito counties.
It does not fill naturally, but is used for seasonal storage of Sacramento-San Joaquin delta water that’s delivered to the reservoir via the California aqueduct and the Delta-Mendota canal. Santa Clara County receives roughly a fourth of the water it uses each year through the reservoir, district officials said.
The project is designed to help provide solutions for what district officials call the “low point” problem that can prevent district officials from using their full supply from the huge reservoir.
During the summer when water levels in the reservoir drop, officials say the higher water temperatures and wind-induced mixing at San Luis result in algae blooms on the surface of the lake.
The algae degrades the water quality, making it impractical to treat and send to customers in the Santa Clara and San Benito counties.
“The time we need the water the most is when our reservoirs are really low or almost empty,” DiMarco said.
To solve the problem, federal and state dam operators keep the water level above that algae-forming “low point” – tying up otherwise-useable water in the process. And they expect the frequency of the problem to increase in the future due to new operating requirements and increases on demand.
District officials originally developed 80 different ideas for solving the problem after public meetings last August, ranging from several new and expanded dams to a bypass to increased treatment. They have cut the list to 16 options.
What park enthusiasts considered one of the most egregious proposals – a dam starting directly within the park’s boundaries – has apparently been put aside. The so-called Coe Reservoir – unofficially known as the “China Hole Dam” – would have begun within the park itself and backed water up Coyote Creek for up to seven miles and several other drainages for varying lengths.
But two reservoir concepts remain that still could back waters up into the park.
Activists say a proposed Los Osos dam upstream of Coyote Reservoir could flood four miles of Coyote Creek within the park, including the “Hunting Hollow” entrance area that’s popular with equestrians, mountain bikers and families. They say it also could restrict access to the historic Gilroy Hot Springs, which the state is in the process of acquiring.
Another proposal still alive, to enlarge the Pacheco Reservoir, could back water up 2.5 miles into the park under the most dramatic proposal, Goodrich said.
The dams would alter the character of the park both physically and operationally, activists say, inundating wildlife habitat, historic and archaeological sites and swimming holes.
“It changes the nature of the park from wilderness and recreation and brings in problems” such as law enforcement issues, Goodrich said.
A dam crossing the park’s boundaries also could set a nasty precedent for intrusions in other parks, Goodrich said, “totally negating” the idea of protection inherent in the park system’s mission.
But DiMarco cautioned that the district wanted to put all ideas out on the table in the problem-solving process. Other ideas still alive include raising the crest of the dam at Anderson Reservoir in Morgan Hill, more intensive treatment, bypassing the reservoir, importing water from other facilities and desalinization.
“The whole reason we started with 80 alternatives was because we specifically said ‘Let’s not lop off any one thing. Let’s look at everything,’ ” DiMarco said. “We didn’t disclude any ideas – we threw them all out there.”
And DiMarco – a former South Valley resident himself – said affecting the park isn’t the district’s goal.
“I understand how they feel – it’s a gorgeous park, and I would feel insulted if someone (pursued) development to alter it,” he said. “But that’s not something the district favors if there are other alternatives.”
The district’s goal is to eventually reach around six “feasible” alternatives that will undergo formal environmental review. A draft environmental impact report isn’t expected until at least next spring, and DiMarco said there will be plenty of opportunity for public comment.
“We’re far away from a decision,” he said. “There’s not going to be anything done under the table or foisted on anybody.”
Park advocates will continue to keep a close eye on the proceedings. More established environmental groups such as Friends of the River also are expressing concern.
“I was in the park last Friday, and I had my sixth mountain-lion sighting – that’s how wild it is,” Goodrich said. “We lose that and it’s gone forever.
“You just don’t replace those kinds of things.”
