A New Wave of Reservoir Construction Set to Begin in California

Dale Kasler reports: "the California Water Commission released updated plans for allocating nearly $2.6 billion in bond funds approved by voters during the depths of the drought."

Just how that many will be spent marks the significance of this story: the funding will enable a "multibillion-dollar wave of reservoir construction" in the state.

Sites, a $5.2 billion project straddling the Glenn-Colusa county line, and the $2.7 billion Temperance Flat reservoir east of Fresno would become the two largest reservoirs built in California since Jerry Brown's first stint as governor in the 1970s.

The funding originates from Proposition 1, a water bond approved by California voters in 2014. The funding allocation process enabled by Proposition 1 has been contentious, as explained by Kasler in the article. Last time Planetizen checked in with the funding process, 12 projects (adding up to $13 billion) had applied for the $2.6 billion funding allocation announced last week.

The article includes a lot more detail about the politics of the Proposition 1 funding, as well as the current status of the Sites and the Temperance Flat reservoir projects.