Nearly six months after the stunning collapse of a $1.5 billion plan to enlarge Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County to provide more water to Bay Area residents, state officials are trying to figure out now what to do with nearly half a billion dollars in state funding they had committed to the now-defunct project.
On Wednesday, they provided their first clue.
A majority of the seven board members of the California Water Commission, a state agency that distributes funding to build reservoirs and other water projects, indicated they are leaning toward dividing up the $453 million left over from the Los Vaqueros project and giving it this year to six other major new reservoir and groundwater storage projects currently on the drawing board around the state.
Those could include Pacheco Reservoir, proposed for the rural hills in southern Santa Clara County north of Highway 152, and Sites Reservoir, a massive new $4.5 billion project proposed for Colusa County that would become the 8th largest reservoir in the state if it is constructed. The other four projects are groundwater storage banks in Kern County, Sacramento County and other locations.
“We have existing projects,” said water commissioner Daniel Curtin. “We should allocate it the way we originally allocated it and move on.”
The commission already has approved $2.1 billion for the six projects. That money came from Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion water bond passed by California voters in 2014.
The bond can provide up to half the costs of projects, which are designed to store more water in wet years to offset shortages at cities and farms during droughts. But they have been slowed by the COVID pandemic, cost increases due to inflation, permitting delays and other problems, including the inability of local water agencies sponsoring them to come up with all of the matching funds.
The commission is expected to make its final decision next month on how to allocate the $453 million. But Wednesday, it was clear its members didn’t want to open the process up to additional proposals that could bring years of new studies, permitting, lawsuits and other delays.
“Fast is better after 10 years,” Curtin said.
Only one of the six projects the commission has approved is currently under construction.
The Harvest Water Program, a $585 million effort by the Sacramento Area Sewer District, will collect 50,000 acre-feet of recycled water — about 16 billon gallons a year — from Sacramento, and use it to irrigate 16,000 acres of farmland and provide water for sandhill cranes, fish and other wildlife in Sacramento County near the lower Cosumnes River.
It is endorsed by a wide range of groups, from the Farm Bureau to the Sierra Club. Crews began work last year installing huge pipes. Billed as California’s largest agricultural water recycling project, it is set to be completed in 2027. Proposition 1 is paying roughly half the cost, $291 million.
On Wednesday, water commission members said the millions left over from the Los Vaqueros expansion project could help soften construction cost increases due to inflation in recent years on some or all of the six remaining projects.
The alternative is to commit the funds to other new projects eyeing the money, like Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir, an 82,000 acre-foot reservoir being proposed by the Del Puerto Water District, in Patterson, for the rural hills east of I-5 not far from the Stanislaus-Santa Clara County line. Much of the water from that reservoir would go to farmers between Patterson and Mendota, in Fresno County.
Water commissioners seemed particularly interested in helping move Sites Reservoir toward construction. That project, proposed for Colusa County, would cost $4.5 billion and provide 1.5 million acre-feet of water — enough for 7.5 million people a year. It is strongly supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom, and has secured billions in loan guarantees from the federal government, along with $875 million in state funding.
If constructed, the off-stream reservoir would be 13 miles long and the largest new reservoir constructed in California in 50 years. More than 20 water agencies, including the Santa Clara Valley Water District in San Jose, Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles and Zone 7 Water Agency in Livermore, are partners who would help pay costs and receive some of the water.
Sites planners have obtained many of their permits, and won two lawsuits from environmental groups who say it would divert too much water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. They are currently undergoing water rights hearings before the State Water Quality Control Board, and hope to break ground next year and finish by 2032.
The planned expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir had been considered one of the most promising new water storage projects in the state. The Contra Costa Water District proposed expanding the reservoir, near Brentwood, from 160,000 acre-feet to 275,000 acre-feet by raising the height of the dam. There was no opposition because the reservoir is already in place, and it is not on a river.
But in September, Contra Costa Water District officials announced they were abandoning the project after their partners, including the Santa Clara Valley Water District, East Bay Municipal Utility District and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, could not agree on who would pay how much of the costs, how much risk each would take or how much water they would be guaranteed.
“I’m still reeling from the Los Vaqueros circumstance,” said water commission board member Alex Makler, an executive vice president with Calpine Corporation in Walnut Creek. “I don’t want to see that happen again.”