As California’s drought worsens, this project could help — if only it stops being delayed

California is experiencing its third consecutive year of drought with no end in sight. The effects on water supply, particularly for farming operations, are immense.

Initial projections estimate 800,000 acres of California farmland will be fallowed this year, including about 370,000 acres in the Sacramento Valley, threatening critical food supplies and local economies.

State officials’ attempts to mitigate the damage have been ineffective. Calls on the public to reduce water usage by 15% have fallen far short, and curtailments on landowners with water rights in the Sacramento and San Joaquin watersheds are creating significant challenges for farmers. These measures are only short-term solutions to a long-term problem that seems to be getting worse with each passing year.

With the frequency and extremes of such weather events expected to continue, developing new large-scale water storage like the Sites Reservoir project in the Sacramento Valley is crucial to improving water resiliency in California.

A long-proposed water infrastructure project in the Antelope Valley of Colusa and Glenn counties, Sites Reservoir could increase water supply significantly during periods of drought. Unique in its design, this off-stream storage reservoir would divert storm and flood water runoff during extreme wet weather events and would create a reliable backup supply for agricultural, urban and environmental use.

These diversions would occur without impeding any existing river flow demands. Once operational, Sites Reservoir would be the eighth-largest reservoir in California, providing 1.5 million acre-feet of water storage.

While the need for new water infrastructure continues to increase, projects such as the Sites Reservoir take considerable time and effort to implement, requiring environmental review, permitting, financing and construction. The projected cost of the Sites Reservoir stands at approximately $4 billion, and if approvals and funding solidify, the earliest construction could begin in mid-2024.

Following that timeline, Sites Reservoir would not be operational until at least 2030, and that is with project support from multiple local agencies and counties in the region along with many local landowners who would be significantly affected by the project. These time constraints demonstrate the need for quick and decisive action now to meet the water needs of the future.

The state’s Water Resiliency Portfolio lists Sites Reservoir as one of the “smart surface water storage” projects for which California leaders can accelerate the permitting process. The state Water Commission has earmarked $875 million in Proposition 1 funds for the project. However, while California voters approved $2.7 billion in Prop. 1 funds for eight statewide water storage projects in 2014, including the Sites Reservoir, not a single project has been built. Government bureaucracy, permitting and environmental review constraints continue to increase cost, delay implementation and contradict the intent of smart surface water storage designations.

This is the challenge that the Sites Reservoir project has as it awaits one of its biggest hurdles, approval by the California State Water Resources Control Board to divert the stormwater (locally known as nuisance water) that periodically floods communities within the Sacramento Valley.

It is imperative that the state act now to prioritize implementation of these projects and alleviate barriers to completion. Residents, businesses and our agricultural industry cannot afford to wait on merely the promise of investment in our long-term water resiliency.