Blog
Editorial: Getting Sites Reservoir across the finish line
It’s difficult to build big water infrastructure projects in California. It takes collaboration and agreement across geographic and political divides. It takes time, funding, and the will of diverse stakeholders to advance solutions to address our state’s biggest water challenges. When you have a project that boasts all the above, you can get the job […]
A Milestone for Sites Reservoir Project
Earlier this month, the Sites Project Authority celebrated the approval of the project and certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report and Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIR) for the Sites Reservoir Project, a multi-benefit, off-stream water storage facility, located north of Sacramento in rural Colusa and Glenn counties. Over the last six years, we have […]
Yes, there will be water for Sites Reservoir now and in the future
During the drought, one question seemed to come up often about Sites Reservoir: if you build it, can you fill it? With California being as dry as it was, the question was a natural one. There didn’t seem to be water anywhere, yet we want to build a new place to store it. We would […]
Latest wave of storms underscores the need for Sites Reservoir
What a water year it has been. I was driving across the Yolo Bypass on Highway 5 north of Sacramento in November and thought to myself how long it had been since I’d seen it full of water. I missed the beautiful view of what, to me, seemed like a sea of water and birds […]
Recent near-record storms make the case for Sites Reservoir
A powerful series of storms slammed Northern California in the first days of the new year, producing record rainfall that saturated the ground and made it more vulnerable to flooding and excessive runoff. The rainfall is welcome after the unprecedented drought of the last few years. As we’ve seen in the news the past few […]
Sites Reservoir Project: 2022 Year in Review
After another year of unprecedented drought, it’s clear California needs Sites Reservoir to create a more reliable and resilient water supply. The period from 2020 to 2022 was the driest recorded in the last 126 years. While heavy rains from an atmospheric river washed over parts of the state to close out the year, excess […]
An Update on the Sites Reservoir Water Right Permit Process
Sites Reservoir reached a critical milestone in May of this year when the Sites Project Authority submitted its water right application to the State Water Resources Control Board. A requirement for the Project to advance, the water right permit process is complex and sometimes iterative. It requires careful analysis and deliberate consideration. The Authority recently […]
Commentary: Sites Authority closing in on fulfilling water promise
Author: Fritz Durst Preparing for drought is an everyday part of life for every Californian. Water conservation and efficient water management are now, and will continue to be, the focus for everyone as drought becomes more persistent in the state. This could not be truer for our state’s farmers and agriculture industry. We are fortunate […]
Op-Ed: California needs Sites Reservoir
Author: Jeff Harris, Council Member, City of Sacramento California’s existing water supply infrastructure is aging and in desperate need of an upgrade. Our demands for water to serve our communities, fuel our economy, and preserve agricultural production and our environment have increased far beyond what our existing water supply system was designed to reliably and […]
A New Reservoir for a New Climate
Author: Jerry Brown, Sites Project Authority Executive Director In a year of unprecedented drought, a policy brief recently released by the independent Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) affirmed the need to modernize our state’s aging water infrastructure and highlighted the opportunities to better manage our water supplies by capturing excess storm and flood outflow […]
Sites Reservoir: California’s Drought Insurance Policy
Jeff Sutton, General Manager, Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority Vice Chair, Sites Project Authority In California, we have experience with droughts. Drought is an inevitable and predictable reality for our state. In 2021, after back-to-back critically dry winters, California’s farms and our rural communities are facing a real and imminent threat as we approach the hottest, driest […]
Reliable Water Supplies for Reliable Food
Author: Mike Wade, Executive Director, California Farm Water Coalition Millions of people across our nation, and countless millions throughout the world depend on California’s farms and ranches for the food they eat every single day. California leads the nation as the country’s largest agricultural producer and exporter and serves as a vital link in the […]
Saving Water for a Drier Day
Author: Ali Forsythe, Environmental and Permitting Manager We often hear of the toll drought takes on California but, among the often discussed topics of a drought’s effects to agriculture, jobs, and urban and rural communities, impacts to the environment can be lost in the narrative. The fact is that the environment is high on the […]
Value Planning for a Better Sites Reservoir
Author: Jerry Brown, Executive Director, Sites Project Authority Designing and constructing any infrastructure project is a major undertaking. Water supply projects come with a number of unique challenges – they require a delicate balance between water supply demands, project costs, and environmental benefits and risks. Their success depends on factors that may not come into […]