News Release Archive

Reclamation delivering California water supply reliability

Media Contact: Rob Manning, 916-513-0554, rmanning@usbr.gov

For Release: August 14, 2020

WASHINGTON - Commissioner Brenda Burman issues the following statement regarding recent Reclamation actions to improve California water supply reliability:

“President Trump issued the Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West in October 2018, followed by the Memorandum on Developing and Delivering More Water Supplies in California in February 2020 — both providing specific instructions to improve water supplies — and Reclamation is delivering. In the last week alone, Reclamation has taken five separate actions to improve water reliability for farms across the state and communities from the Bay Area to southern California. From the north to the south, Reclamation is delivering for California. With our partners, we are working hard and keeping our promises.”

Background:

• Last Thursday Reclamation released a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the raise of Shasta Dam by a modest 18.5 feet to the 600-foot dam. This raise would provide an additional 634,000 acre-feet of storage — enough water to support two million people a year. Updating the environmental documents to include new science related to the updated Central Valley Project biological opinions brings us one step closer to making this practical project a reality. Additionally, last Friday, Reclamation announced a proposal to modernize accounting procedures for the Central Valley Project Improvement Act to provide financial certainty to our water and power customers. 

• On Tuesday, Reclamation transmitted the Modification Report for the B.F. Sisk Safety of Dams project — the largest dam safety project in Reclamation’s history — to Congress. Modernizing this structure will ensure the dam can safely and reliably deliver benefits while continuing to serve the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project. Reclamation is paving the way to make this happen, along with our partner, the California Department of Water Resources.

• Yesterday, Reclamation presented Congress with the Final Feasibility Report for the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project. Reclamation partnered with Contra Costa Water District in the Bay Area on the project to increase storage capacity in the reservoir by over two-thirds, from 160,000 acre-feet up to 275,000 acre-feet. This expansion project, providing additional storage capacity on an existing footprint, would provide increased water supply reliability and operational flexibility to the Bay Area, the Central Valley Project, and Central Valley wildlife refuges. 

• Also yesterday, Reclamation released a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for a proposed raise of B.F. Sisk Dam for additional water supply in San Luis Reservoir. Reclamation is partnering with the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority on this prudent project that would be implemented in conjunction with the dam safety modification project.

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The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.

Relevant Link:

Memorandum on Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West

Memorandum on Developing and Delivering More Water Supplies in California