An Aging Dam in Stanford’s Backyard — and Why it Must Go

“It’s not about undoing the accomplishments of the past. It’s about figuring out how to refashion infrastructure for this new era to meet more social goals, including climate adaptation, ecosystem restoration, fisheries, preventing algae blooms, more efficient energy generation, and seismic safety.”

In a recent article from Stanford University’s Woods Institute, CalTrout is encouraged to see Dan Reicher and Felicia Marcus, Stanford University water experts from the Woods Institute and Center for the West respectively, examining the impacts of dams that have outlived their useful lifespan and the opportunities their removal can create for rivers and communities.

In their commentary, they highlight the Potter Valley Project on the Eel River as a candidate for removal, but another prime candidate is the Stanford University-owned Searsville Dam, which has long ago surpassed its useful lifespan of storing water. Searsville Reservoir is now over 90% filled in with sediment. The aging dam, built in the 1890s, is classified as a “High Hazard” dam by the U.S. Army Corps and poses a serious dam failure risk to people and property downstream. It is also a prime candidate for removal to achieve large-scale ecosystem restoration, water quality improvement, and reduced methane emissions. In this era of increasingly unprecedented climate impacts including catastrophic flood risk from atmospheric river precipitation events, public safety is of the utmost importance.

Just like on the Eel River, there is a damless solution on San Francisquito Creek that ensures a more reliable and responsible water supply for Stanford University while providing unimpeded migration for threatened steelhead trout and other native species.

CalTrout, along with other Beyond Searsville Dam coalition partners, have presented such a vision to Stanford that would be an unprecedented research opportunity and model. The coalition has submitted public comments on the initial Notice of Preparation filed by Stanford and is anticipating the release of the university’s forthcoming environmental impact report on their plans for Searsville Dam this winter. We look forward to working with the university and resource agencies to find a solution that replaces their aging infrastructure with better and modernized alternatives that balance the needs of both fish and people alike.