Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project will receive $10 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation.
The funding will be used to further the project’s goals of improving Bay Area and Central Valley water supply and supporting wildlife refuges along the Pacific Flyway, a vital migratory route for critical bird populations.
According to the National Audubon Society, each year at least one billion birds migrate along the flyway, which is only a fraction of those that used it a century ago. Wildlife refuges along the Pacific Flyway provide protection against habitat loss, water shortages, diminishing food sources and climate change.
Additionally, the expansion will increase the Los Vaqueros Reservoir capacity from 160,000 acre-feet to 275,000 acre-feet and add new and modified conveyance facilities to provide environmental, water supply reliability, operational flexibility, water quality and recreational benefits.
“We are grateful to Reclamation for acknowledging the importance of the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project and the role it will play in providing water supply reliability for 11 million customers and protection of critical bird populations from the Bay Area to the Central Valley,” said Board Chair Angela Ramirez Holmes. “Our partnership with Reclamation is invaluable and will help ensure quality of life now and for future generations.”
The $10 million allocation today is authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, approved by Congress in November 2021, and is in addition to a previously awarded $164 million from all federal sources for the reservoir expansion project. The project was previously authorized for federal funding under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act of 2016.
“We appreciate the ongoing federal support of this project that is vital to millions of Californians and key wildlife refuges,” said Los Vaqueros Reservoir Joint Powers Authority Executive Director Taryn Ravazzini. “The allocation of these funds marks another milestone and allows the LVR JPA and its members to continue our progress toward regional resilience.”
This expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir is not for Contra Costa Water District customers, this expansion is to be a “shared resource” with other Water Districts that failed to pay for and build their own reservoirs and other water storage facilities for their own customers.
Wait… What?????
You mean the government failed to plan for something they have long known about?
Wow… This is a first….
S,
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The Contra Costa Water District actually did plan for the future when we paid for the previous expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir. Perhaps I misstated things, those other water districts did plan for the future, not by expanding water storage in their districts, but by taking water from our water district.
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Los Vaqueros Reservoir is one of four reservoirs in California that has been targeted for expansion as a “shared resource” for multiple water districts, rather than for just the water district that ownes the reservoir.
My understanding is that other water districts will have rights to water stored behind the expanded dam. I fear the price CCWD customers will pay is a return to those days of nasty tasting water, as the reservoir has to be drawn down (emptied?) to allow the construction to increase the dam height. I haven’t read how our water needs will be met.
Anytime they expand water storage it’s a good thing.
Should change the name to Cowboy.
Forget all that other piffle….. stock it with all the trophy size trout the money will buy!