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A major milestone has been reached for the proposed Sites Reservoir project, a plan to build a large new water storage facility west of Colusa.

The state has issued a draft decision to conditionally approve a key water right permit for the project. Under the proposal, water would be pumped from the Sacramento River to the reservoir, which would store up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water. Supporters say the added storage would help improve water supply during dry years for farms, communities and wildlife.

A new state-commissioned report finds that Mono Lake in California’s Eastern Sierra has only a 1 in 3 chance of reaching its target water level by mid-century if current water exports to Los Angeles continue.

The report suggests that halting water exports would significantly increase the likelihood of the lake reaching its target, but climate change could still lower lake levels by up to 6.5 feet by the end of the century.

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it will spend $540 million on water infrastructure projects in California, much of it to repair aging and sinking canals in the Central Valley.

The largest share, $235 million, will be used to rehabilitate the Delta-Mendota Canal, which carries water to farmlands. An additional $200 million will help continue repairs on the Friant-Kern Canal, another major conduit for water in the valley.

There are only a few months remaining before cities and towns learn how much water they will have to do without starting on Oct. 1. That’s when the current agreement between seven states and Mexico to share Colorado River expires.

Since the states have been unable to come to a new agreement, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will dictate the terms of a new policy going forward. And it will likely be less water for everyone.

The warm winter has left very little snow in California’s Sierra Nevada, and now an extreme heat wave is accelerating the rapid melt in the mountains.

The Sierra snowpack measures 48% of average for this time of year, according to state data, down from 73% of average in late February.