Valley Water advances private land route for Ogier Ponds creek separation project

Valley Water advances private land route for Ogier Ponds creek separation projectThe Santa Clara Valley Water District is moving forward with a plan to reroute Coyote Creek through 36 acres of private land, bypassing former gravel pits to protect steelhead trout and coordinate with the Anderson Dam seismic retrofit.

Alternative 6 will reestablish the creek's historical alignment by creating a 300-foot-wide floodplain and low-flow channel through existing orchards.

The chosen route avoids the need to import up to 2 million cubic yards of fill or build 40-foot-tall separation levees on clay foundations in deep water.

Planning will conclude in 2026, with the new channel scheduled to tie back into the active creek around 2032 to align with Anderson Dam construction flows.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) Capital Improvement Program Committee has voiced support for "Alternative 6" to separate Coyote Creek from the Ogier Ponds, a critical habitat restoration project that serves as a conservation measure for the Anderson Dam seismic retrofit. During a June 15, 2026 meeting, Valley Water Senior Engineer Kevin Sibley presented the staff-recommended alternative, which will reroute the creek away from a series of six groundwater-filled former gravel mining pits. Currently, adult and juvenile steelhead are forced to migrate through the ponds, exposing them to warm water temperatures and predatory fish such as largemouth bass. Alternative 6 involves purchasing 36 acres of private land—primarily orchards—to reestablish the creek's historical alignment. The design features a 300-foot-wide cross-section with a low-flow channel and floodplain habitat. Sibley noted that other evaluated alternatives were technically or logistically infeasible. Options to partially or completely fill the ponds would have required importing between 1.2 million and over 2 million cubic yards of material, generating tens of thousands of truck trips. Another option to build a separation berm through the ponds was deemed structurally challenging due to the need to construct 40-foot-tall levees on clay foundations in 30 feet of water. By contrast, Alternative 6 will generate a surplus of excavated earth. This material may be reused on-site to shallow out the steep pond banks and create fringe wetland habitat, or diverted to other Valley Water projects. The utility is currently in the early stages of private land acquisition, which involves two main landowners and several smaller downstream parcels. The project also faces utility coordination challenges, as the proposed footprint intersects with large steel high-voltage towers and telephone poles requiring coordination with PG&E. Planning for the separation project is expected to conclude by the end of 2026, after which it will move directly into design. Construction of the new channel will largely take place disconnected from the active creek. Sibley stated the project will likely plug back into the main creek around 2032, timing that coordinates with increased winter channel flows expected when flows are diverted through the bypass tunnel during Anderson Dam construction.