A major California newspaper reports that southern California’s Metropolitan Water District (MWD) may put up $1.5 million in “pre-development work” to kick-start the Sites Reservoir project in northern California. The Sacramento Bee says MWD’s interest in the project could be 50,000 acre feet of storage, or about 25 percent of the water the reservoir is projected to hold. Sites Reservoir is far from a “done-deal.” It must still gain California Water Commission approval for at least part of the $2.7 billion pot of money earmarked for water storage projects in the most recent voter-approved water bond.