Farm Progress

Will California regulators vote to build Sites Reservoir?

tfitchette, Associate Editor

October 21, 2016

7 Slides

Whether Sites Reservoir is built is a decision the California Water Commission may make in a year or two.

Nevertheless, a joint powers authority to propose and ultimately manage the facility is up and running with that very goal in mind.

Sites Reservoir is a proposed off-stream storage facility in western Colusa County, west of the community of Maxwell, in a sparsely-populated bucolic valley that is home to some of California's last native grasslands. In wet years the venue provides good winter grazing pasture for beef cattle.

If built, the lake could hold as much as 1.8 million acre feet of water and cost upwards of $4 billion to build. If approved, half of that money could come from the California Water Bond passed by voters in late 2015. The other half would be borne by local agencies.

About the Author(s)

tfitchette

Associate Editor, Western Farm Press

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