The Harvest Water Program, a conjunctive use project that would deliver up to 50,000 acre-feet/year of recycled water to irrigate more than 16,000 acres of land in South Sacramento County, will be the first Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP) project to come before the California Water Commission for a final funding hearing. This project will store and manage groundwater while improving stream flow, enhancing groundwater-dependent riparian habitats, sustaining prime agricultural lands, and improving regional water supply reliability.
Proposition 1: The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Prop. 1) dedicated $2.7 billion for investments in the public benefits of water storage projects, and designated the California Water Commission as the agency responsible for allocating the funds through a competitive process. In 2018, the Commission made maximum conditional funding determinations (MCEDs) for seven projects that would boost the state’s water storage capacity by 2.77 million acre-feet. The MCED is the maximum amount of Prop. 1 funding available to a given project. If successful, the combined seven WSIP projects will represent the state’s largest investment in water storage in a generation, and have the potential to add 2.77 million acre-feet in statewide water storage.
The Harvest Water Program’s MCED is $291.8 million. The project previously received a portion of this, $14.3 million, as early funding to assist with planning related activities, including environmental documents and permits (as allowed by Prop. 1). The project proponent, Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (Regional San), has completed the Prop. 1 requirements and has requested a final funding hearing at the June Commission meeting.
California Water Commission meeting
When: 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 21
Where: Warren-Alquist State Energy Building, 1516 9th Street, Sacramento, 95814
Info: (916) 873-5774, www.cwc.ca.gov
The meeting will be live streamed at https://www.water-ca.com/.
To comment remotely, Zoom login information can be found on the public participation guide.
The Harvest Water Program’s final funding requirements are available for viewing on the Commission website. For more information on WSIP, including general project schedules and the Road to Final Funding, visit cwc.ca.gov/Water-Storage.
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The nine-member California Water Commission uses its public forum to explore water management issues from multiple perspectives and to formulate recommendations to advise the director of the California Department of Water Resources, and as appropriate, the California Natural Resources Agency, the Governor and Legislature on ways to improve water planning and management in response to California’s changing hydrology. For more information, visit cwc.ca.gov.
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