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- B.F. Sisk Dam
- B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and Reservoir Expansion Project for Water Storage
B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and Reservoir Expansion Project for Water Storage
B.F. Sisk Dam and San Luis Reservoir, located on the west side of California’s Central Valley near Los Banos, are an integral part of the federal Central Valley Project and State Water Project. The dam, built between 1963 and 1967, is a 382-foot-high earthfill embankment over 3.5-miles long that impounds San Luis Reservoir, the largest offstream reservoir in the nation. The reservoir has a total capacity of more than 2 million acre-feet, which provides water for farms, communities, and wildlife refuges south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. B.F. Sisk, previously called San Luis Dam, is owned by the Bureau of Reclamation and operated by the California Department of Water Resources.
While implementing safety of dam modifications at B.F. Sisk Dam, Reclamation is partnering with San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority to raise the dam an additional 10-feet to create an extra 130,000 acre-feet of storage in San Luis Reservoir. The additional space would be used to store water that could be delivered to south-of-Delta water contractors and wildlife refuges. This water would meet existing contractual obligations and not serve any new demands.
A $25 million investment to the project under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was announced in October 2022, and an additional $10 million in July 2023. The project was also authorized $60 million for construction from the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act for a total federal contribution of $95 million to date.
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