Time to pitch Sites Dam project

Plans for the reservoir, which would span the Glenn and Colusa county lines west of Maxwell, have been in the works for years. Since the turn of the century the state has spent $50 million and the federal government another $15 million on various studies of the reservoir, which would hold up to 1.8 million acre-feet of water from the Sacramento River.

An acre-foot of water is about 326,000 gallons, and a Department of Water Resources study estimates the state needs to add up to 9 million acre-feet of new storage between now and 2050. The three-year drought has emphasized that point, with groundwater levels sinking precariously lower as farmers and other water users made up for dwindling surface water supplies.

The water to fill Sites would be diverted from the Sacramento River at Red Bluff and flow into the reservoir through the Tehama Colusa-Canal and canals in the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District.

Rice farmer LaMalfa, R-Richvale, didn’t forget about the proposed reservoir when he was elected to Congress two years ago. There, in a rare collaboration with a Democrat, he teamed up with Rep. John Garamendi, from Davis, whose District 3 abuts LaMalfa’s District 1 and includes Colusa County and part of Glenn County.

The two announced in March that they were co-authoring a bill directing the federal government to accelerate a feasibility study to authorize Sites Reservoir construction. Like so many before it, the bill stalled after the House and Senate disagreed on their approaches to drought issues.

There may yet be hope, LaMalfa told Scripps newspapers reporter Bartholomew Sullivan last week. He said congressional staffs are still in discussions, and he’s hopeful a House-Senate conference committee could include the bill in a future report. If that doesn’t happen, LaMalfa said, he hopes to get it passed as a stand-alone bill.

Earlier this year, with enhanced pressure brought on by the drought, it looked like timing for the LaMalfa-Garamendi bill couldn’t get any better. Perhaps it just has.

For one thing, Republicans and Democrats, on the surface at least, are at least talking about cooperating with one another to accomplish the country’s business. A Democrat and Republican already have cooperated, at least on this particular bill. Maybe that cooperation can win enough support to push it through. It seems like an easy enough way to demonstrate a new Congressional spirit without comprising anyone’s party principles.

There’s one other piece of good news that might tip the balance. In talking up their bill, LaMalfa and Garamendi should be sure to make a big point of the possibilities, especially since the legislation doesn’t guarantee federal funding.

In last week’s election, with 67 percent in favor, voters strongly approved Proposition 1, the state water bond issue that will make available $7.1 billion for water quality, supply, treatment and storage projects. Though Prop. 1 doesn’t name projects, it’s very clear that a good chunk of the money is earmarked for water storage and replenishing groundwater. Adding 1.8 million acre-feet of storage capacity would certainly relieve some of the pressure on groundwater supplies.

During the Prop. 1 campaign, the Sites Dam and the Temperance Flat Dam in Fresno were the two projects most often mentioned as funding recipients.

LaMalfa needs to add that to his sales pitch.