The city is the only Napa County city that doesn’t get some of its water from a local reservoir. It depends on highly variable State Water Project supplies coming from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta through the North Bay Aqueduct.
American Canyon will invest $1.6 million into the proposed Sites reservoir in Colusa County. This photograph used in a Sites environmental presentation shows the part of the proposed inundation area. Register file photo.
American Canyon investing $1.6 million in planned Sites reservoir
Mar 16, 2022 at 9:20am
American Canyon will spend $1.6 million as it continues trying to solve its water crunch by participating in the tag-team effort to build Sites Reservoir 75 miles away in Colusa and Glenn counties.
“We’re almost there," City Councilmember David Oro said. "It’s further along than ever.”
Instead of building a local reservoir, the city in 2017 joined about 30 cities, water districts and agencies trying to build Sites Reservoir. Sites is to cost about $4 billion, store water pumped from the Sacramento River and be larger than Lake Berryessa.
On Tuesday, the American Canyon City Council agreed to pay $1.6 million over three years for the latest Sites planning phase, regardless of whether Sites ever gets built.
“If we can’t make this happen, it’s a sign of a failed state, in the state of California, if we can’t bring more water,” Oro said.
The idea for Sites Reservoir dates back a few decades, with the Sites Project Authority forming in 2010 to manage the effort. The present construction schedule has a groundbreaking in a couple of years and water being delivered at the end of the decade.
Sites reached a milestone in December. The California Water Commission, after reviewing environmental reports, proposed benefits and financing plans, determined the project is feasible. That keeps the project eligible for $800 million in state money.
American Canyon’s homes, businesses and industries use about 2,800 acre-feet of water annually. The city has a 5,200-acre-foot annual allocation from the State Water Project, but the state usually reduces this to an average of 3,200 acre-feet annually, according to city reports.
Given water squeezes amid droughts and planned growth, the city wants another water source. Sites would provide 4,000 acre-feet annually.
“I think that’s what attracted all of us to this — more reliability and more supply,” Mayor Leon Garcia said.
California hasn't seen large, new reservoirs created in recent decades in part because of environmental concerns. Sites proponents point out that the project wouldn't dam a river, but rather would pump in Sacramento River water.
But Sites has critics. The Natural Resources Defense Council last year stated the planned Sacramento River water diversions could harm salmon and other fish.
Water stored in Sites would later be released back into the Sacramento River when needed. American Canyon would get its allocations from the Delta through the North Bay Aqueduct, just as it does its State Water Project supplies.
American Canyon decided in 2017 to be part of the Sites effort and agreed to pay $120,000 for planning that year. In 2019, it agreed to pay $240,000. Now comes the $1.6 million over three years.
A future funding piece will be helping to pay for construction. City Manager Jason Holley said that, beyond state and federal funding, construction costs would be paid by the participating agencies, such as American Canyon.
The Sites Project Authority would issue bonds and American Canyon would help pay for the financing as part of the water rate upon delivery.
Among the other Sites project members are the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Irvine Ranch Water District, Westside Water District, Davis Water District and San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District.
Garcia and City Councilmember Mark Joseph said American Canyon's water delivery system faces a challenge that the Sites project won't solve. That's the location of the North Bay Aqueduct's Delta pumps in Barker Slough in Solano County, where water quality is poor and rare fish can restrict pumping.
"It is the Achilles' heel of our water system," Joseph said. "The sooner we can fix it, the better.”
But the possible solution is an entirely different project that involves relocating the Barker Slough pumps to the Sacramento River south of Sacramento. Solano County and Napa County water interests have explored relocating the pumps for more than a decade. Cost is a barrier.
See the full article from the Napa Valley Register here.