California’s largest new water storage project takes a major step forward

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.

Earlier this year, Governor Newsom announced the state would provide an additional nearly $269 million for the project. 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.  

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. 

Climate change poses a growing threat to California’s water supply. 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 state has already experienced a marked increase in the variability of precipitation, with wild swings from drought to flood and back again. 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. 

California needs to modernize its water infrastructure to adapt to a changing climate, and completing water infrastructure projects quickly is now 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. 

California continues to anticipate weather whiplash as it moves into the 2026–27 wet season. This week, Governor Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency to bolster California’s preparedness for a potentially historic El Niño season. The proclamation mobilizes state resources and streamlines preparedness measures ahead of anticipated winter storms, including efforts to reduce flood risks, stage emergency equipment, and protect vulnerable communities and critical infrastructure. As California prepares for more extreme swings between drought and flood, projects such as Sites Reservoir are essential to capturing high flows when they are available and storing water for drier periods.

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