Thursday August 10, 2023
Santa Clara Valley Water News —
Over the past two decades, Valley Water and its partners completed more than 20 restoration projects in the Coyote, Guadalupe and Stevens Creek watersheds to remove barriers and improve in-stream habitat for fish. One of the agency’s most recent projects was removing a high-priority fish barrier in Coyote Creek and replacing it with a new pedestrian bridge and trail in collaboration with the City of San José.
These projects are all part of the Fish and Aquatic Habitat Collaborative Effort, which will serve as a roadmap to balancing Santa Clara County’s water supply operations while considering environmental impacts.
On Aug. 8, 2023, the Valley Water Board of Directors certified the Fish and Aquatic Habitat Collaborative Effort’s final environmental impact report. The document details how Valley Water proposes to release water from our reservoirs to balance water supply needs while also providing habitat for steelhead in Stevens Creek and both steelhead and Chinook salmon in the Guadalupe watershed. The document also details how plants, wildlife, fisheries and water supply will be affected under different scenarios for operations and what we can do to enhance the various benefits.