Santa Clara Valley Water District

Oct. 20, 2009
(Watch video of the event below)

A symbolic push of a button sent gallons of water flowing from Lexington Reservoir into Los Gatos Creek, punctuating a two-year and more-than-$60 million construction project that brings new flexibility for the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s dam operations, outlet pipe inspection and facility maintenance.

The Oct. 20 demonstration at the Lenihan Dam Outlet Modification Project completion ceremony showed how the newly replaced outlet is capable of meeting the high demands for which it was designed.

“This was a very extensive project,” Deputy Operating Officer Dave Chesterman said. The project replaced an old outlet pipe with a new pipe and tunnel through Saint Joseph’s Hill on the east side of the dam. More than 60 people closely associated with the effort – contractors and consultants, as well as representatives from the Department of Safety of Dams and the Los Gatos Rowing Club – viewed the demonstration and toured the tunnel. The ceremony also featured the students of the nearby Lexington Elementary School, who poetically detailed the history of the dam, reservoir and project with the help of district education coordinator Kathy Machado.

Heralded for its engineering design as a Project of the Year by the San Francisco Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Lenihan Dam Outlet Modification Project also helps address a nationwide concern among utilities: aging infrastructure.

“For the district, it’s an issue that we take particularly seriously given the importance of our assets to the community,” said Chief Executive Officer Beau Goldie. “The district puts particular attention delivering high-value projects that will serve the community well for years to come.”

That community is one that Director Rosemary Kamei took care to acknowledge at the event, particularly organizations such as Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation and the Los Gatos Rowing Club, which partnered with the district on the design plan and construction process.

“The one thing that stands out as such a positive in my mind is the level of cooperation and understanding shown by the community during the course of this project,” she said. “The trail leading to the dam is heavily used and we knew that diverting people to go up the face of the dam would be inconvenient. But while we received a lot of questions, there wasn’t much in the area of creating obstacles that could have taken our attention and focus in other directions.”