California Approves Water Right Permit for Sites Reservoir, a 1.5 Million-Acre-Foot Project
The California State Water Resources Control Board on November 4 approved a water right permit for the Sites Reservoir project. The proposed 1.5 million-acre-foot reservoir, to be built in Glenn County and Colusa County, California, would divert and store water from the Sacramento River and would be the largest reservoir built in California in more than 50 years.
Under the permit, the project may divert up to 986,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Sacramento River when flows are relatively high, storing it for farms, cities and the environment — an annual amount enough to supply about 8.4 million people. The project would use existing infrastructure to divert water near Red Bluff and Hamilton City and store it 17 miles to the west, later releasing it back to existing canals and the river system for use by storage partners.
The permit followed two years of proceedings overseen by the board's Administrative Hearing Office: 32 hearing days, 41 parties, 60 witnesses and 2,115 evidentiary documents. A revised draft decision and permit were released for public comment on September 3, and the board considered and adopted them at its November 4 public meeting.
Shivaji Deshmukh, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said in a statement the same day: "The water right approved today is the foundation of the Sites Reservoir Project." Metropolitan is potentially the largest investor in the project, with up to a 22% share, and has invested approximately $31 million since 2017 in planning, permitting and environmental review; it said its board will use the decision to evaluate its level of participation, if any, in financing and construction.
The reservoir is proposed by the Sites Project Authority, whose participants include state and federal agencies, public irrigation districts in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, and urban water suppliers serving the Bay Area and Southern California. California's statewide goal is to add 9 million acre-feet of new water supply or capacity by 2040 to strengthen climate resilience and long-term water reliability, and Sites Reservoir is part of that goal.
Source: California State Water Resources Control Board
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Red Bluff 附近的 Sacramento River，Sites 水库将从这条河引水蓄存。照片由美国鱼类及野生动物管理局 Steve Martarano 拍摄，公共领域，来源 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Sacramento River near Red Bluff, from which Sites Reservoir will divert and store water. Photo by Steve Martarano, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
