SACRAMENTO (Calif.) On Thursday, the federal government signaled that it would lend nearly $2.2 billion to the project to finance the long-delayed construction of a massive reservoir in Northern California to withstand the West’s notorious droughts.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement is equivalent to being preapproved for a loan. Before the money is released, it will take the federal government and project officials up to two years to negotiate the terms of the loan and sign documents.
What You Need to Know
- Before the money is released, it will take the federal government and project officials up to two years to negotiate the terms of the agreement and sign documents.
- The reservoir would flood what little was left of Sites, a tiny town in rural Colusa County that is nestled in the valley of the coastal range mountain in rural Colusa County.
- Once complete, the reservoir would be able to hold approximately 3 million gallons of water for a year.
- California’s nearly 40 million residents require a lot more water to run.
The reservoir would flood what little remains of Sites, which is a small community nestled in the valley of the coastal range mountains in rural Colusa County. Although the idea has been around since 1950, it has never had the financial resources or political will to take action.
The reservoir will hold enough water for 3 million households for a year once it is completed. It would be almost twice the size of the current reservoir in California, but smaller than some of the state’s more well-known lakes.
Officials at the project called it a game-changer.
Fritz Durst (chairman of the Sites Project Authority) said that this opportunity is of immense importance.The agency that promotes and oversees the project is.
California has almost 40 million residents. It requires a lot water to run. California has a strong agricultural industry that supplies most of the nation’s fruits, nuts, and vegetables. It also has a diverse and fragile ecosystem that is home for endangered salmon species.
It doesn’t rain in California. Most precipitation occurs during the winter months or early spring. California has a large network of reservoirs that store rainwater and snowmelt in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The reservoirs then release water throughout every year for drinking, agriculture, and environmental reasons.
However, researchers say California and the rest of the West is in the worst megadrought in the U.S. West in at least 1,200 years. This has placed enormous pressure on the state reservoirs, who have had to reduce the amount of water they release each year. It has had a negative impact on the environment and forced farmers into abandoning thousands of acres.
California is facing a drought that has led to renewed calls for the construction of more reservoirs. One solution is to flood the small community of Sites, which is located in a valley near the coast range mountains.
The project is expected to receive about $875million from a bond approved by voters in 2014 and a further $450 million loan provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The project will be able to get enough money from the latest loan from EPA as well as a possible investment by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Officials expect the reservoir to be operational by 2030.
We’ve made progress and we have a good tailwind behind us,” Jerry Brown, executive director at the Sites Project Authority, said. He is not related to the former California governor.
Before construction can begin, the project must still pass several regulatory processes, including an environment review.
This is where the project will encounter the most resistance. Sites is not connected to a stream or river like other reservoirs. Instead, operators will need to pump water from nearby Sacramento River.
Environmental groups, including Natural Resources Defense Council, claim that the project will drain too much water from rivers, causing harm to endangered salmon. Aside from the fact that it will take more water to pump it, the Sites project will also make it more costly.
There will always be people who believe that building new dams or reservoirs will solve California’s water supply problems. Doug Obegi, a lawyer at the NRDC, wrote about it in a blog post last year.
Sites officials insist that they are confident they will get the project approved, despite environmental concerns. Their plan calls for 40% of water to be released for environmental reasons. They claim the federal government will provide a low-interest loan that will reduce the cost of water by 10%.
Brown said that he was 100% certain that this would be built. There’s a lot fear and distrust, and we need to act in a manner that we, you, can secure trust, and address the fears. We’re working hard to make that happen.