Subject: Re: Just Three Months Ago
California - despite approving reservoirs ten years ago never built anything:

No wonder Trump loves the poorly educated.

Building dams and reservoirs is not exactly like putting up a McDonalds. It is vast, it is expensive, it takes years of planning, it is extremely complex, and there are many people, some fighting for it and some fighting against it, for political, environmental, and financial reasons.

From the link below:

Still, Sites Reservoir remains almost a decade away: Acquisition of water rights, permitting and environmental review are still in the works. Kickoff of construction, which includes two large dams, had been scheduled for 2024, but likely will be delayed another year. Completion is expected in 2030 or 2031.

For years, state lawmakers, farm representatives and city water suppliers have bemoaned that the reservoir hasn’t been built yet, and their criticism has escalated during rainy periods.

Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat from Walnut Grove, is one of many long-time Sites advocates who have grown impatient waiting for the new reservoir.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has rallied for the project, and his 2022 water strategy outlined a plan to create as much as 4 million acre-feet of new water storage space.

Jerry Brown (not the former governor of the same name) of the Sites Project Authority, which represents local water districts pursuing the project, said it takes many years to develop and plan projects of this scale.

“My personal rule of thumb is that for every year of construction you spend about three years in the planning-permitting-engineering stage,” he said. Since Sites’ construction takes six years, the process would be expected to take 18 years.

https://calmatters.org/environ...