Six months after the collapse of a $1.5 billion plan to expand Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County to provide more water to Bay Area residents, state officials began Wednesday to redistribute nearly half a billion dollars that had been earmarked for the failed project.
The California Water Commission, a panel appointed by the governor, voted 7-0 to give $73 million immediately to the Harvest Water Program in Sacramento County, in addition to $291 million it had previously provided.
Now under construction, that $591 million project, will take 50,000 acre-feet of recycled wastewater — about 16 billon gallons a year — from Sacramento homes and businesses, and use it to irrigate 16,000 acres farmland, recharge underground aquifers and restore wetlands for sandhill cranes, fish and other wildlife in Sacramento County near the lower Cosumnes River when it is completed in two years.
But the commission punted Wednesday on a question being closely watched by water managers around the state: When will it dole our the rest of the Los Vaqueros money? And which other reservoirs and other water storage projects being planned around California will receive it?
There is $453 million in funding from Proposition 1, a state water bond passed by voters in 2014, that had been assigned to the Los Vaqueros expansion by the commission starting in 2018.
But in a stunning development, that project, considered one of the most promising new reservoir projects in the state, died in September. The Contra Costa Water District ended years of planning, saying it could not reach agreement with other agencies such as the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the East Bay Municipal Utility District on who would pay how much money, and what guarantees each agency would receive during droughts.
The plan would have increased the size of Los Vaqueros, near Brentwood, from 160,000 acre-feet to 275,000 acre feet.
On Wednesday, water commission members considered dividing up the $453 million left from Los Vaqueros — plus another $75 million for water storage from Proposition 4, a climate bond approved by voters last year — and awarding it to six projects for which they had originally approved state funding in 2018.
Those include Pacheco Reservoir, a $2.7 billion project proposed by the Santa Clara Valley Water District to be built in the rural hills of southern Santa Clara County near Pacheco Pass, and Sites Reservoir, a massive new $4.5 billion project proposed for Colusa County that would become the 8th largest reservoir in California if it is constructed. The other four projects are groundwater storage banks in Kern County, Sacramento County and other locations.
But because the Harvest Water project is the only one under construction, and some of the others — particularly Pacheco — have seen delays, lawsuits and cost overruns from the local water agencies proposing them, water commission members voted Wednesday to wait until this summer to decide which of the projects will receive the rest of the Los Vaqueros money. Supporters of each are scheduled to make presentations to the commission between April and July.
“Every commissioner wants these projects to go forward and hopes that we will hear positive movement and positive thoughts,” said Fern Steiner, chairwoman of the water commission. “And we hope at this point we will be approving final funding for each and every project. But we do need to make sure that these projects are in fact moving forward.”
Several water agencies urged the commission to release the Los Vaqueros money now. Inflation has increased 53% since 2015, they noted, increasing the costs to build new dams, reservoirs, and groundwater banks to help the state store more water in wet years for droughts.
Having certainty now will make it easier for water agencies to sign contracts with other federal, state and local agencies to help fully fund the projects, they said.
“It is critical that all parties understand the state’s financial commitments,” said Jerry Brown, executive director of the Sites Project Authority, a collection of local government officials in the Sacramento Valley who are proposing the proposed Sites reservoir. “Without direction on this item, and the adjustments, we are really unable to finalize contracts. Please keep that in mind.”
Brown, who is not related to the former governor, said Sites has most of its permits, won the two lawsuits facing it from environmental groups, and is awaiting a final vote by August to obtain water rights from the State Water Resources Control Board. He hopes to break ground late next year.
“We are hitting our milestones, and we are making solid progress,” he said.
Some at the meeting criticized the Pacheco project. The Santa Clara Valley Water District after years of planning still has not secured any partnerships with other local water agencies to help pay the costs. Key permits have not been obtained. The project would flood a small part of Henry W. Coe State Park, which could bring lawsuits. And its cost has more than doubled in recent years to $2.7 billion.
The district’s staff and board are studying other options, including helping fund a proposal to raise the dam at San Luis Reservoir between Gilroy and Hollister, which would likely be cheaper and less controversial.
“We are happy the extra (Los Vaqueros) funds will be allocated to projects that deserve it,” said Juan Pablo Galván Martínez, senior land use Manager for Save Mount Diablo, an environmental group in Walnut Creek. “But we definitely want to see these projects demonstrate viable public benefits and progress toward completion. The Pacheco Dam does not fall into this category. The cost estimates keep skyrocketing with almost no end in sight. The timeline is overly optimistic and other projects have made the benefits of Pacheco redundant.”