Personal watercraft may be allowed back on Anderson
Reservoir.
Personal watercraft may be allowed back on Anderson Reservoir.
Under the proposal by the Santa Clara Valley Water District and Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department, Anderson Reservoir east of Morgan Hill and Calero Reservoir south of San Jose would allow personal watercraft that meet California Air Resources Board 2001 or U.S. EPA 2006 standards.
Only personal watercraft with four-stroke engines or two-stroke direct fuel-injection engines meet those standards.
The proposal comes five years after both agencies, working with the local boating community, agreed to close Anderson Reservoir to all personal watercraft and to restrict their numbers at Calero to protect both reservoirs from the gasoline additive MTBE.
Residents are invited to a public meeting at 7 p.m. tonight, to voice their opinions on the proposal. The meeting will be held in the Mt. Madonna YMCA building, 17666 Crest Ave., Morgan Hill.
Now that MTBE is no longer added to gas supplies and engine technology has improved, allowing “clean-burning” personal watercraft in greater numbers onto Anderson and Calero reservoirs is not considered an immediate threat to water quality.
The water district board of directors established a policy 30 years ago to allow recreational uses of the county’s reservoirs, as long as those activities do not harm the community’s water resources.
If the proposal is accepted, the water district will continue to sample water in the reservoirs for gasoline-related chemicals regularly. If any contamination is detected, the water district will consider implementing more boating restrictions.
The policy is perhaps most evident through a partnership with the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department, which oversees recreational opportunities at eight of the county’s 10 reservoirs, and along several miles of creeks in the county.
For more information about the proposal, visit the water district Web site, www.valleywater.org, or the Web site of County Parks, www.parkhere.org.
