Two proposed reservoirs for the Central Valley are among the largest projects seeking money from a bond issue approved by California voters in 2014. But there are ten other projects also trying to get money from the bond issue. In all, the dozen projects seek $5.8 billion. The bond issue totaled $2.7 billion. The 12 applications for funding under the Water Storage Investment Program include several new or expanded reservoirs:
In the midst of California’s historic drought, voters approved a $7.5 billion water bond intended to ease water shortages. The bond sets aside $2.7 billion for water storage projects. The California Water Commission has received a dozen applications asking for more than $5.7 billion. Two big reservoir projects are asking for the largest sum of money. The Sites Reservoir, which would be located about an hour north of Sacramento, wants $1.6 billion. It would draw water from the Sacramento River.
An innovative, off-stream water storage proposal northeast of Sacramento should be one of the top priorities for the state’s spending of Proposition 1 water-bond money. The Sites Reservoir project would, in wet years, divert “excess” water from the Sacramento River into what would be the seventh-largest reservoir in California. It would hold some 1.3 million to 1.8 million acre-feet of water, which could be used to meet several of the state’s water-system goals, along with the needs of agriculture and cities.
An hour’s drive northeast of San Francisco lies California’s most important water source and the West Coast’s largest estuary. Stretching across 1,100 square miles and five counties, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and its dozens of manmade islands support a $5 billion agricultural industry and supply water to over 25 million Californians. But the Golden State’s endless thirst and population growth has the delta on the brink of ecological disaster, experts predict. Decades of overpumping, agricultural runoff and tepid water temperatures have nearly extinguished a once-booming salmon population and polluted water quality.
The authority will seek funding from the Proposition 1 water bond passed by California voters in 2014, to offset part of the cost of building the proposed Temperance Flat Reservoir on the San Joaquin River above Millerton Lake. The California Water Commission, which will evaluate applications for bond funding, had set an Aug. 14 deadline for project proponents to file applications and supporting documents. Backers of the proposed Sites Reservoir in the Sacramento Valley also filed their application with the Water Commission.
As global temperatures continue to rise, droughts are expected to become more frequent and severe in many regions during this century. A new study with NASA participation finds that land ecosystems took progressively longer to recover from droughts in the 20th century, and incomplete drought recovery may become the new normal in some areas, possibly leading to tree death and increased emissions of greenhouse gases.
San Diego Unified officials have shut off some drinking fountains at district headquarters after high levels of lead were discovered in the water. Bottled water is being provided to employees and the public at the Education Center, a district spokesman said. Water was discovered at 18 parts per billion (ppb) at the Education Center in the 4100 block of Normal Street where the school board meets, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
The snow has melted and the forecast is in: Lake Mead is safe from shortage for another year. According to projections released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the reservoir east of Las Vegas will have enough water in it on Jan. 1 to stave off a first-ever federal shortage declaration — and the mandatory water cuts for Nevada and Arizona that would come with it. The lake is also on track to avoid a shortage in 2019, thanks to decreased demand downstream on the Colorado River and a larger-than-usual influx of water from Lake Powell upstream.
Heavy winter snows in the Rocky Mountains have rescued the thirsty Western U.S. for another year. U.S. water managers said Tuesday there will be no water cutbacks in 2018 for millions of residents and farmers served by the Lake Mead reservoir on the Colorado River that lies behind the Hoover Dam. “The projection indicates there is no chance of shortage in 2018,” said Rose Davis, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “Zero.”
Backers of the proposed Sites Reservoir west of Maxwell filed an application Monday for Proposition 1 funding and released environmental documents about the project for public review and comment. Monday was the deadline to apply with the California Water Commission for a share of the $2.7 billion for water storage that was in Proposition 1, a bond voters passed in November 2014.
