California’s Largest New Water Storage Project Takes a Major Step Forward

CALIFORNIA – During Climate Week in New York, Gov. Gavin NewsomSept. 24 announced that Sites Reservoir — one of the biggest water projects in modern state history — is moving closer to construction. Late last week, the Sites Project Authority moved the project forward, signaling that a revised water right permit from the State Water Resources Control Board can support a viable reservoir project. This moves the project forward into an investment period, which puts the project closer to construction. Next, the final permit will go before the State Water Board on November 4. 

Sites Reservoir is a key component of the Governor’s water strategy and will capture water from the Sacramento River during wet seasons and store it for use during drier seasons — holding up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water, enough to supply over 4.5 million homes for a year. 

Once construction is complete, the reservoir will:

• Capture and store flood flows from the Sacramento River to reduce potential flood damage.
• Provide new opportunities for recreation for an anticipated 187,000 visitors annually.
• Dispatch water to wildlife refuges, including the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area, and San Luis National Wildlife Refuge.
• Deliver up to 200,000 acre-feet of captured water to create a new water supply for use during emergency-declared droughts.

Earlier this year, Gov. Newsom announced the state would provide an additional nearly $269 million for the project. With this additional funding, the Sites Project is eligible for a total of $1.363 billion in Water Storage Investment Program or WSIP funding from Proposition 1 and Proposition 4.  

California is expected to lose 10% of its water supply due to hotter and drier conditions by 2040, threatening the water supply for millions of Californians — and the reliability of the State Water Project could be reduced by as much as 23%. The state has already experienced a marked increase in the variability of precipitation, with wild swings from drought to flood and back again. These threats were outlined in a recently released State Water Project Adaptation Strategy.

California needs to modernize its water infrastructure to adapt to a changing climate, and completing water infrastructure projects quickly is now urgent.

This week, Gov. Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency to bolster California’s preparedness for a potentially historic El Niño season.