Two local politicians say the stars are aligning for the proposed Sites Reservoir and they’re confident it will win final authorization before next year’s election.
U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa and California State Senator Jim Nielsen made the pronouncements Wednesday in Oroville. If constructed, the reservoir would be the largest state water project facility since Lake Oroville was completed in 1968.
LaMalfa, a Republican, co-sponsored legislation that would speed the project’s approval in March with John Garamendi, a Democrat. Both represent the Sacramento Valley.
“It’s the best, most viable project with the most size to it, the most volume of stored water,” LaMalfa said.
State and federal authorities have been studying a number of ways to boost capacity. Among the options: a reservoir upstream from the Friant Dam along the San Joaquin River; making Shasta Dam taller and the so-called Sites Reservoir.
While broadly praising innovative conservation efforts by both urban residents and agriculture, Nielsen said it’s simply not enough.
“There will be future droughts. Population will grow. That’s irrefutable. That’s why we need the storage,” Nielsen said.
Both lamented bureaucratic delays and studies that the two said lagged on for decades. If the drought has any silver lining, it should become visible in congressional committee hearings.
“I really dislike that it takes pain to get people’s attention on this, but the more brown front lawns you have the more orchards you see pushed out, the more small ag towns you see boarded up, it’s got to be getting a message across,” LaMalfa said.
Cost estimates range from $3.6 billion to $4.1 billion. The reservoir would hold up to 1.8 million acre feet. Officials say it could be completed in about 10 years.