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Coyote Creek High Water Part 3, Anderson north 1/2/22 by Ronald Horii
After all the rains we've been having at the end of December, I've been going out to Coyote Creek to see how much water is in the creek. This is the third of 3 tours I took along it. I started at the south end of the trail in Anderson Lake County Park and rode north. Here are the other tours:
Coyote Creek High Water Part 1, Metcalf to Coyote Ranch, 12/30/21:
https://tinyurl.com/mr22vsct
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Coyote Creek High Water Part 2, Silver Creek to Hellyer, 12/31/21: https://tinyurl.com/58dza49f
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For more of my pictures of the Coyote Creek Parkway, see: http://www.rhorii.com/#CoyoteCreekParkway
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Here's Coyote Creek Parkway info and maps: https://parks.sccgov.org/santa-clara-county-parks/coyote-creek-parkway
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The water in Coyote Creek below Anderson Dam comes from 2 major sources: release from Anderson Dam and imported water. Starting in 2020, Anderson Reservoir has been drained to "deadpool" level, which is the lowest level it can be drained using its existing outlets. It reached that level in 2021, and there was only a trickle coming out of the dam. Much of Coyote Creek north of the Ogier Ponds dried up. To restore flow to the creek, imported water from San Luis Reservoir was released into the creek. This was limited by state and federal regulators because of the drought. Because Anderson Reservoir needs to stay drained for the dam retrofit construction project, any runoff collected in the reservoir has to be released into the creek. That's probably why there's so much water in the creek now. Anderson has a huge watershed, and it gets water from Coyote Dam. Here's information about the Anderson Dam retrofit project:
https://www.valleywater.org/project-updates/c1-anderson-dam-seismic-retrofit
After all the rains we've been having at the end of December, I've been going out to Coyote Creek to see how much water is in the creek. This is the third of 3 tours I took along it. I started at the south end of the trail in Anderson Lake County Park and rode north. Here are the other tours:
Coyote Creek High Water Part 1, Metcalf to Coyote Ranch, 12/30/21:
https://tinyurl.com/mr22vsct
..............................
Coyote Creek High Water Part 2, Silver Creek to Hellyer, 12/31/21: https://tinyurl.com/58dza49f
..............................
For more of my pictures of the Coyote Creek Parkway, see: http://www.rhorii.com/#CoyoteCreekParkway
..............................
Here's Coyote Creek Parkway info and maps: https://parks.sccgov.org/santa-clara-county-parks/coyote-creek-parkway
..............................
The water in Coyote Creek below Anderson Dam comes from 2 major sources: release from Anderson Dam and imported water. Starting in 2020, Anderson Reservoir has been drained to "deadpool" level, which is the lowest level it can be drained using its existing outlets. It reached that level in 2021, and there was only a trickle coming out of the dam. Much of Coyote Creek north of the Ogier Ponds dried up. To restore flow to the creek, imported water from San Luis Reservoir was released into the creek. This was limited by state and federal regulators because of the drought. Because Anderson Reservoir needs to stay drained for the dam retrofit construction project, any runoff collected in the reservoir has to be released into the creek. That's probably why there's so much water in the creek now. Anderson has a huge watershed, and it gets water from Coyote Dam. Here's information about the Anderson Dam retrofit project:
https://www.valleywater.org/project-updates/c1-anderson-dam-seismic-retrofit
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