FILE: The Anderson Dam in Anderson Lake County Park in Morgan Hill, Calif., on May 28, 2020.

After years of planning, Santa Clara County’s largest dam is finally set to be torn down and rebuilt after water officials approved a $3.2 billion project to bring the aging 240-foot-tall structure up to modern earthquake standards.

The Anderson Dam Seismic Retrofit Project is slated to begin construction at the Morgan Hill site in early 2027, Santa Clara Valley Water, the agency in charge of the project, said in a Tuesday news release. The water district also said that the project “will improve water supply reliability, support groundwater recharge, reduce flood risk, and restore recreation at Anderson Reservoir and along the Coyote Creek corridor.” 

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When construction starts, crews will rebuild a majority of the dam and its spillway, install new pipelines and complete other safety upgrades, Valley Water said in the news release. Crews also plan to raise the wall height of the dam by........

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