It appears a new water storage and flood control reservoir will be built in Northern California that is twice the size of Folsom Lake…and that is very good news.
Above-ground reservoir push renewed in Sacramento
March 28, 2007
SACRAMENTO - Tehama County's Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are renewing the push for new water storage efforts in California and are pledging to work together to bring about the construction of new above-ground reservoirs.
Aanestad and Schwarzenegger took part in a news conference earlier Tuesday at the Joint Operations Center in Sacramento, where the governor highlighted his Strategic Growth Plan, a $6 billion investment to upgrade California's water systems. Sites Reservoir is identified as one of two above-ground storage projects in the governor's plan.
"I'm very happy with this governor on the water storage issue," said Aanestad. "He started talking about the need for new storage two years ago and hasn't backed down one bit in the face of opposition from environmentalists and some leaders in the majority party."
Aanestad says the California Department of Water Resources recently confirmed that Sites Reservoir in Colusa County is closest to actual construction in terms of planning and preparation. The DWR's Water Storage Program Unit expects to wrap up work on a three-phase feasibility project next year.
The proposed reservoir is located at the old John Sites Ranch, a natural bowl formation of hills ten miles west of Maxwell in Colusa County. It can host nearly two million acre feet of water. That's twice the surplus of Folsom Lake and about half that of Shasta Lake.
