COLUSA COUNTY, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday he is fast tracking a new reservoir project — the first of its kind in 50 years.
The $4 billion Sites Reservoir project would be able to supply water for 3 million households to use in drier months, if approved in its current proposed state.
Newsom signed multiple new infrastructure bills in July to speed up development, saying they’re cutting through red tape but activist groups say it’s actually just cutting corners.
The proposed project is located in both Glenn and Colusa counties and would be able to hold 1.5 million acre-feet of water.
Jerry Brown is the executive director of Sites Project Authority, a group that was created for the project in 2010. The reservoir will be filled by diverting water off of the Sacramento River and through collecting water during the wet season and storing it.
Brown says this reservoir will be crucial for climate change, that California needs to be able to manage and store rain and snow melt. He says the project is close to completing a six-year environmental review.
“We made some huge adjustments in what in what we consider to be our diversion criteria. Adjustments that are far more protective, at this time, of species in the river and flows in the Delta. We’ve reached a point where we’ve done all we can,” said Brown.
This project was passed by voters under Proposition 1 in 2014 and received funding. Over the summer, Newsom signed Senate Bill 149, which helped resolve lengthy legal challenges to projects like this.
“It helps to address uncertainty in schedule delays. It doesn’t mean that lawsuits aren’t possible, it just means by mandate of the law required to decided and resolved in an expedited fashion,” said Brown.
However, environmental groups like the Sierra Club have opposed the project for years, calling it “environmentally destructive” to fish in nearby rivers and streams.
"The environmentally destructive Sites Reservoir project should not be eligible for certification under the new infrastructure streamlining law," said Erin Woolley, Senior Policy Strategist at the Sierra Club in a press release. "Building new dams and reservoirs is an idea of the past and perpetuates the very challenges we need to address."
According to the California Water Commission construction is set to begin in the second half of 2025 with operations beginning in 2030.
WATCH MORE: Man viciously attacked by river otters | Latest
