As Northern California communities try to recover from recent flooding, proponents of a water storage project west of Williams are talking about what could have been as they await regulatory approval. Sites Reservoir would hold up to 1.5 Million Acre-Feet of off-stream storage which would be diverted by canals and pipelines 17 miles from the Sacramento River. Of course it’s far downriver of Shasta County and would have done nothing to relieve the flooding experienced here, but the Sites Project Authority says 168,000 acre feet could have been captured from late December through the end of this month. The project is awaiting a key “water right order” from the State Water Resources Control Board. Some environmental groups and tribes say the project will divert too much water from the Sacramento River and harm Salmon and other wildlife. The Authority says each month of delay increases construction costs by around $20 Million.
-Steve Gibson