Site work, paving and new construction of a water / sewer project in Maxwell, California. Completed plans call civil work for a dam / floodwall.

The effort to build California's largest new reservoir in decades has received a welcome commitment of cash -- nearly $220 million -- which will help keep the project on track to break ground as soon as next year. Planned for 70 miles northwest of Sacramento, the proposed Sites Reservoir won the bulk of the funding because plans to expand the Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County fell through, freeing up money in the state's 2014 water bond. The remainder of the money for Sites came from last year's state climate bond. The California Water Commission, a state advisory board, decided on the bond allocations at its regular monthly meeting Wednesday. Two other water projects, a groundwater banking program in Kern County and a combined water treatment-groundwater facility in the Inland Empire, were awarded lesser amounts of the bond funds. Advertisement Article continues below this ad "It's progress," said Jerry Brown, executive director of the Sites Project Authority, the agency that's managing the bid to build the new reservoir in rural Colusa and Glenn counties. "I think it's good that we're seeing the commission take action and show interest and support for these projects." Brown is not related to the former governor with the same name. The 13-mile-long Sites Reservoir, if built, would be the biggest reservoir constructed in California since New Melones Lake in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties in 1978. The project would expand water storage in preparation for a potentially hotter, drier future. The new facility would hold up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water, enough to supply more than 3 million households annually. Perched across a sparsely populated valley where cattle now graze, it would be the eighth largest reservoir in California. The new funding for the project comes at a critical time: just weeks after the Sites Project Authority confirmed that the estimated cost of the new reservoir had ballooned from $4.5 billion to between $6.2 billion and $6.8 billion. Rising construction costs are to blame. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The 2014 water bond, also known as Proposition 1, initially allocated $875 million for Sites Reservoir before this week's bump. On top of the bond money, the federal government has pledged $780 million for the project. The nearly two dozen water agencies that want to use the reservoir are on the hook for the balance. Final funding commitments from the water agencies are due next year, a point at which it will become clear whether the project has the needed financing to move forward. The biggest beneficiary of the new reservoir and, as such, the agency responsible for ponying up the most money, is the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The Bay Area recipients include the Tri-Valley's Zone 7 Water Agency and Santa Clara Valley Water District. The federal government is also set to get a share of the water, most of which would go to agriculture. Should any of the water agencies decide the project is too expensive, there is a waiting list of at least a dozen more suppliers that want to participate, according to the Sites Project Authority. "We're still seeing a strong participation outlook," Brown said. Brown is planning for construction of the reservoir to start late next year and wrap up by the end of 2032. The project still needs to obtain a handful of permits and approvals, including rights to water to fill the reservoir. The State Water Resources Control Board is amid a monthslong hearing to decide on whether the project should be allowed to divert water from the Sacramento River. Several environmental groups and tribes oppose granting the water rights. While Sites is an off-stream reservoir, which means it doesn't sit on the Sacramento River and directly disrupt flows or fish, critics say piping in water will still reduce what the river holds, potentially hurting salmon runs and degrading water quality downstream. A lawsuit filed against the project in 2023, saying environmental reviews didn't adequately address ecological concerns, was dismissed. At Wednesday's water commission meeting, a handful of people spoke in favor of giving additional money to Sites. "Having this reservoir is essential," said Colusa County Agricultural Commissioner Anastacia Allen, noting that a local water shortage in 2022 forced growers to fallow farmland and businesses to close. "We can't see our generational family farms face bankruptcy because of the lack of water." While awarding funding to Sites and two other projects, the water commission chose not to provide additional bond money to two other projects. The proposed expansion of Pacheco Reservoir in southeastern Santa Clara County and a groundwater storage development in the Antelope Valley haven't made adequate progress per the terms of the bond, according to the commission. However, the commission set aside money should the projects make headway. A sixth project, a groundwater storage initiative in Sacramento County, was awarded additional bond money earlier this year. Plans to expand the Los Vaqueros Reservoir, which had received an initial funding commitment from Proposition 1, collapsed last year when the Bay Area water agencies that supported it couldn't agree on how to finance it. The failure of the project left $454 million of water bond money to reallocate. The 2024 climate bond provided an additional $72 million to distribute to the water projects. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In April 2025, the Authority Board and Reservoir Committee (AB/RC) shortlisted the following firms (listed alphabetically) to advance to the second step of the Reservoir Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) procurement: Barnard Construction Company, Incorporated FlatironDragados-Obayashi Joint Venture Kiewit Infrastructure West Company Anticipated Reservoir CMAR Procurement Schedule 1. Issue RFP and Draft CMAR Contract to short-list - June 2025 2. Proposals Due - August 2025 3. Proposal Review and Interviews - September 2025 4. Board and Reservoir Committee approve Reservoir CMAR and authorize contract for pre-construction services - October 2025 The scope of work consists of the following: Main dams, saddle dams and dikes, and reservoir rim. Sites Reservoir will require construction of two new dams, Sites Dam (on Stone Corral Creek) and Golden Gate Dam (on Funks Creek), seven saddle dams, and three dikes on the reservoir rim at the top of tributaries to the Hunters Creek drainage. Sites Dam and Golden Gate Dam will be approximately 270 feet high. The saddle dams and dikes will range in height from 6 to 107 feet. Sites and Golden Gate Dams will be founded on rock, with the dam embankment including a central clay Zone 1 core with flanking rockfill shells. Spillway. A concrete overflow spillway will be located on the north side of the reservoir rim, discharging into Hunters Creek to the north. Inlet/Outlet (I/O) works. This facility includes a sloping intake structure with two parallel, concrete-encased 13-foot-diameter pipes, laid on an excavated hill slope. As currently envisioned, the intake works will include inlet ports providing the flexibility to draw or discharge water from seven different elevations in Sites Reservoir. An I/O tunnel, roughly 3,200 linear feet is included in the Reservoir Package and would connect to the downstream infrastructure included in the Conveyance Package. The tunnel would have an excavated diameter of 24.5 feet and an inner diameter of 18.5 feet. Sites Dam Diversion Outlet: The diversion tunnel will be located through the left abutment of Sites Dam. Following construction, the diversion tunnel will be used for stream releases and emergency reservoir releases to Stone Corral Creek. The Sites Diversion Outlet intake will consist of two parallel 10-foot pipes combining into a 14.5-foot inner diameter steel-lined tunnel in the north abutment of Sites Dam. The steel-lined tunnel will continue for about 1,320 linear feet until reaching the outlet structure where the main pipe would bifurcate into two parallel 9.5-foot pipes with butterfly isolation valves and fixed cone valves discharging into energy dissipation chambers. Water exiting the chambers will discharge to a riprap-lined channel connecting to Stone Corral Creek downstream of Sites Dam. Funks Creek Diversion: A temporary 4-foot-diameter steel pipe encased in reinforced concrete in the foundation of Golden Gate Dam will be used to divert flows to Funks Creek during construction. The diversion will be abandoned after construction by plugging the steel pipe with concrete. Sites Lodoga Road Bridges. Two bridges are included in the Reservoir Package. One, approximately 1,900 feet on the west side of Sites Reservoir and a second approximately 2,700 feet long from the middle causeway to the east end of Sites Reservoir. The segment between the two bridges will be constructed with a fill prism. Materials Haul Road Bridge: Running east-west, a single span bridge east of Sites Reservoir along the Sites Lodoga Road realignment will connect to the borrow area near the Golden Gate Dam. Spillway Bridge: This bridge will be constructed over the spillway and supported on spillway walls at each end. The bridge will aligned with the 23 foot -6 inch wide Saddle Dam Road connecting to the North and South Saddle Dam Road west of the spillway. Miscellaneous Construction Access and Permanent roads and Bridges: One new bridge, four bridge replacements, and bridge widening will be constructed at various locations along North Access Road, Road 69, Delevan Road and Funks Construction Access Road to span local creeks and canals. As of December 18, 2024, this project is at 30% design completion. A RFQ will be advertised on January 8, 2025 for a RCMAR (Reservoir Construction Management at Risk). . This will be a two-step process of RFQ, shortlist and then issuance of a Request for Proposals. A construction start date has not been disclosed. All communications regarding the Sites Project, the Reservoir Package, and this procurement shall be directed to the designated Contact Person (Marcia Kivett). Email: boardclerk@sitesproject.org or phone: 561.843.9740 Deadline for questions on the RFP August 27, 2025 at 1pm PST