Long-planned Sites Valley reservoir moves toward construction
As California enjoys a second robust winter in a row, calls for additional water storage may soon be getting an answer. A new reservoir is something voters approved funding for years ago, and while progress has been slow, there are hopes that it may finally be moving ahead. “Nothing has been built like this in California for more than 30 years,’ said Executive Director of the Sites Reservoir Authority Jerry Brown. It’s been nearly 70 years since California took a look at the Sites Valley, and saw the potential for a reservoir that could have been as large as Shasta. The plan now is for something not quite that large, but still massive. … Brown insists the long, slow push to create new water storage is moving ahead, and the payoffs, he says, will be as large as the new lake. It will not dam a river, which is good for fish. Instead, water will be pumped up out of the valley.
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