Finally A New Reservoir–In 2040

We need a new reservoir, and we need it now. And we need it filled. Of course this is another failure of California government–having experienced droughts and empty reservoirs for years.

It is now part of the dark history of LA. The 117-million-gallon drinking water reservoir, located in the Palisades Highlands neighborhood, was completely empty when the destructive January 2025 Palisades Fire broke out. It had been drained by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to repair a large tear in its floating protective cover.

But California pols are coming to the rescue–in 2040. Whaaaat?

The State Water Resources Control Board has officially approved water rights for the massive Sites Reservoir project. We have been down this road before. For decades, California water plans have collapsed. The Auburn Dam project was halted by a major earthquake in 1975, and the more recent Temperance Flat project was abandoned after local water districts pulled their financial backing. In fact, California hasn’t opened a major new reservoir since the New Melones Dam was completed way back in 1979.

That’s about two generations with no new reservoir despite it being clear that one (or more than one) was needed.

The $6 billion to $9 billion Sites Reservoir project just cleared its final hurdle. Unlike older dams, this off-stream basin northwest of Sacramento will pump and store river water exclusively during heavy winter storms. Construction is fast-tracked to break ground by this July, with a target to be physically online and taking water by late 2034. It will take an estimated six additional years of wet winters to completely fill the basin, meaning the project will be fully usable by 2040—eventually supplying water to over twenty-four million Californians.