Urban Water Infrastructure

Stanford will need to re-invent their own antiquated and environmentally destructive water supply system before "showing" other what to do.

Stanford's own private water supply system includes the 120 year old Searsville Dam, which blocks almost 20 miles of spawning and rearing habitat for one of the last wild steelhead trout runs in the South San Francisco Bay. The steelhead are now listed under the Endangered Species Act and Stanford's impassable dam is the main limiting factor in the watershed. Stanford has declined offers from the Department of Water Resources and others to pay for studies to look at alternatives for the dam that would improve ecosystem health.

Stanford continues to operate the dam without any bypass flow agreement to maintain good habitat for downstream wildlife. Stanford annually draws Searsville Reservoir down below the spillway as it diverts water to their golf course and other landscaping, while releasing NO water for endangered species downstream. The result is that for much of the summer and fall Stanford dewaters the creek downstream.

The new Center's Director Richard Luthy is right when he says “There may be some streams or rivers that used to flow more”. One of them runs right through Stanford Campus (San Francisquito Creek) and Stanford is one of the main reasons why there is less, and often times no, water in the creek.

Searsville Reservoir is also the main source of non-native species in the watershed and Stanford let's these harmful predators spill over the dam and spread downstream all the way to San Francisco Bay. The reservoir degrades water quality downstream and submerged a unique valley where 6 creeks all came together among natural wetland ponds and miles of riparian forest.

“We now recognize the importance of saving some of the water for ecosystem services, and protecting endangered species,” Luthy says. “the goal is to use a better understanding of natural processes to improve water quality, habitats and the urban esthetic,” he adds.

Stanford has know about this problem for decades and continues to allow Searsville to degrade the environment and put endangered species at risk. For the past decade Stanford has been developing a Habitat Conservation Plan to be submitted to the US Fish and Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries for a 50 year permit to incidentally kill listed species, such as steelhead. The plan covers the entire 8000 plus acre campus, except Searsville Dam. The old dam is so far out of environmental compliance that the university knew it would not be permitted. Instead of implementing, or even proposing, solutions over the past decade, they have chosen to ignore it, while trying to get a permit that would cover much of the dams water diversion benefits.

Our non-profit coalition, Beyond Searsville Dam, is advocating for Stanford to practice what they preach and replace Searsville Dam with a new and sustainable water diversion system.

Find out more- www.BeyondSearsvilleDam.org

Beyond Searsville Dam of CA 9:34PM November 12, 2011