The Department of the Interior on Wednesday announced a $514 million investment as part of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda that will bring clean, reliable drinking water to communities across the West through five water storage and conveyance projects.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has allowed us to begin work on long overdue water storage projects, providing clean, reliable drinking water to families, farmers and Tribes throughout the West,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The investments we’re announcing today will continue to fund these important efforts, expediting essential water storage projects and providing increased water security to Western communities.”

Among the projects receiving funds is the Sites Reservoir in neighboring Colusa and Glenn counties.

The project will receive $129 million for an off-stream storage project that will develop up to 1.5 million acre-feet of new water storage on the Sacramento River system located west of Maxwell, California.

The reservoir will deliver multiple benefits including cold water for salmon by using new and existing facilities to move water in and out of the reservoir, with ultimate release to the Sacramento River system via existing canals, a new pipeline near Dunnigan, and the Colusa Basin Drain. 

This Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding builds upon previous year allocations to fully announce all of the storage and conveyance funding provided by the law.

President Biden’s Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change.

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reclamation is investing a total of $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination.

Since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed three years ago, Reclamation has announced almost $5.3 billion for more than 670 projects.