Governor Newsom announces nearly $269 million to advance Sites Reservoir project, expanding California’s water storage commitment

What you need to know: California is moving forward with its strategy to expand water storage capacity and support 40 million residents, as Governor Newsom announces new funding to advance the Sites Reservoir project and strengthen the state's long-term water resilience.

SACRAMENTO - Building on years of progress, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that California is advancing the state's Sites Reservoir project with an additional $268.9 million funding increase from the California Water Commission - strengthening long-term water storage and helping prepare for a hotter, drier future.

Year after year, we see climate change putting pressure on California's water system in real time with hotter, drier weather, and more intense storms that strain our communities and the environment. With this additional funding for Sites Reservoir, we are expanding our water storage capacity and turning challenges into opportunities to capture more water for millions of California residents.

Governor Gavin Newsom

Sites Reservoir is a key component of the Governor's water strategy and will capture water from the Sacramento River during wet seasons and store it for use during drier seasons - holding up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water, enough to supply over 4.5 million homes for a year.

Once construction is complete, the reservoir will:

• Capture and store flood flows from the Sacramento River to reduce potential flood damage.

• Provide new opportunities for recreation for an anticipated 187,000 visitors annually.

• Dispatch water to wildlife refuges, including the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Upper Butte Basin Wildlife Area, and San Luis National Wildlife Refuge.

• Deliver up to 200,000-acre feet of captured water to create a new water supply for use during emergency-declared droughts.

"The Sites Project proponents have shown consistent progress in making this reservoir come to fruition. We look forward to seeing them complete the statutory requirements so they can come before us for final funding," said Commission Chair Fern Steiner. "The California Water Plan calls for a statewide goal of nine million acre-feet of additional water, water conservation, or water storage capacity by 2040. This project will go a long way toward meeting that goal."

With this additional funding, the Sites Project is eligible for a total of $1.363 billion in Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP) funding from Proposition 1 and Proposition 4.

To receive funding from the Commission, the project must first meet certain voter-mandated requirements, including securing financing, obtaining permits, completing environmental review, and contracting with the State agencies that are overseeing the administration of the public benefits. Governor Newsom previously streamlined judicial review of the project under CEQA, allowing the project to swiftly defeat a legal challenge to the project's environmental review. More information about the project can be found at build.ca.gov.

Preparing California's water infrastructure

Over the last few decades, California's climate has warmed, with the effects felt strongly in water resources. The state has already experienced a marked increase in the variability of precipitation, with wild swings from drought to flood. These threats were outlined in a recently released State Water Project Adaptation Strategy, which assesses and details over a dozen different state actions to protect the state's water supply through the State Water Project.

Completing water infrastructure projects quickly is more important than ever. Through Governor Newsom's efforts to support projects like Sites Reservoir, the administration is working to mitigate future cost increases and prepare California for a new climate reality.

Conveyance infrastructure will also be needed to move that water to where it is needed to take advantage of fast-moving storms. The Delta Conveyance Project, would expand the state's ability to improve water supply reliability, while also maintaining environmental and water quality protections. California is expected to lose 10% of its water supply due to hotter and drier conditions by 2040, threatening the water supply for millions of Californians - and the reliability of the State Water Project could be reduced by as much as 23%. The Delta Conveyance Project will help offset and recover these future climate-driven water losses. If Delta Conveyance had been operational this year, 585,000 acre-feet of water could have been captured through May 28th-enough water for 6.3 million people for one year.