The California Water Commission (CWC) has approved a supplemental funding determination of $268.9 million for the Sites Reservoir Project. The funding comes as the $6.2 billion to $6.8 billion reservoir project moves through its final permitting and approval stages.
The additional funding would increase the project’s conditional eligibility for Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP) funds to approximately $1.36 billion. The funding is intended to account for inflationary increases and support additional public benefits, including emergency response during drought conditions.
The Sites Project Authority is developing the Sites Reservoir, a planned 1.5 million acre-foot off-stream reservoir in Glenn and Colusa counties. The reservoir would capture excess stormwater flows from the Sacramento River system during wetter periods and store the water for later use.
Officials say the project is designed to improve water supply reliability, provide drought emergency response, support wildlife refuges, reduce flood risks and create recreational opportunities.
Unlike traditional reservoirs that rely on a dam across a river, Sites Reservoir would store water away from the main river channel, allowing it to capture high flows when water is available and use that stored supply during dry periods.
The project is expected to become California’s second-largest off-stream reservoir when completed. The Authority is continuing work on environmental approvals, permits and agreements needed before construction can begin.
A related effort, the Delta Conveyance Project, is intended to move water through tunnels to areas that need it. That project faces separate environmental and legal challenges and is on a later timeline than Sites Reservoir.
The Sites Project Authority expects to seek proposals later this year for owner’s delivery support services that would help oversee construction, manage costs, maintain schedules and support engineering quality.
Photo by I, Amadscientist, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, fromWikimedia Commons
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