Everything You Need to Know About San Luis Reservoir
From mavensnotebook – California.com – Nestled in the heart of California’s vast Central Valley lies a shimmering oasis, a testament to human ingenuity and the ongoing quest for water management: the San Luis Reservoir. This magnificent reservoir, holding both natural beauty and immense significance for the Golden State’s water system, is much more than just a large lake. Here’s everything you need to know about this impressive structure. Water is pumped into the reservoir primarily from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta during periods when water is abundant. The reservoir then releases the stored water during dry periods, ensuring a consistent water supply for agricultural, municipal, and industrial users downstream. The water stored in San Luis Reservoir not only quenches the thirst of urban areas such as Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Francisco, but also irrigates the fertile farmlands of the Central Valley, which contribute significantly to California’s economy. The reservoir acts as a buffer, ensuring that water is available throughout the year, especially during California’s frequent and sometimes prolonged droughts. (more)
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From Public Policy Institute – When it comes to state funding for water and natural resource projects, California has typically turned to general obligation bonds as the first resort. These bonds enable the state to borrow funds and pay them back over many years using General Fund dollars. The historic budget surpluses of recent years have shaken up this long-standing arrangement: awash in tax revenue, the state seized a rare opportunity to directly allocate large sums of General Fund dollars for water and natural resources. After two years of largesse, however, that funding source may be drying up—and we may see a return to general obligation (GO) bonds. In the past two fiscal years, California took advantage of budget surpluses to allocate more than 
From EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) – EPA addresses water pollution from the 
From the Water Foundation – In May and again in June, the Water Foundation and our longtime grantee 
From AgNet West– Sites Reservoir is one of the projects that will directly benefit from recent reforms to permitting requirements for water and energy infrastructure projects. The Sites Project Authority commended Governor Gavin Newsom and the California State Legislature for passing the legislative package. Projects certified by Newsom are eligible for a simplified approval process to bring the crucial infrastructure online at a quicker pace. “We are grateful to Governor Newsom and the State Legislature for their leadership on such a challenging aspect of our regulatory process,” Executive Director of the Sites Project Authority, Jerry Brown 
From USACE, Sacramento District – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in partnership with the California Central Valley Flood Protection Board (CVFPB), California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA), will be constructing 3.5 miles of levee improvements along the Garden Highway levee from Farm Rd to Gateway Oaks Dr. This work is part of the American River Watershed Common Features – Natomas Basin project authorized by Congress in 2014. Geotechnical engineering analyses have shown that the levees are susceptible to seepage and many portions of the levee have significant landside slope stability and long-term operations and maintenance concerns. Upcoming levee improvements are expected to begin in 2022, and will address identified deficiencies by constructing an adjacent levee to widen the existing levee, installing seepage cutoff walls up to 145 feet deep, and constructing landside seepage berms. (
From ABC10 – Spring was unusually cool in Northern California this year, allowing for a manageable snowmelt period in what could’ve been a far more dangerous situation. While flooding due to snowmelt has certainly done damage to many valley and foothill communities following the record winter, the cool weather pattern to start the year has prevented the widespread, catastrophic flooding that could have occurred under different circumstances. California has spent the last few months mainly under the influence of low pressure systems. The systems have kept the region cool and allowed for a manageable snowmelt period. Sacramento so far has experienced one of its coolest Junes on record and is over three degrees below average. (
From the Oakdale Leader – Dozens of adult sturgeon and hundreds of other large fish including threatened Chinook salmon have moved safely from receding floodwaters within the Yolo Bypass back to the Sacramento River thanks to the coordinated operation of the Fremont Weir Adult Fish Passage among the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), NOAA Fisheries and Yolo County. Over one recent 48-hour period when the Fremont Weir Adult Fish Passage was opened, the facility’s fish-counting sonar counted 55 sturgeon passing through the facility to the Sacramento River to migrate upstream and spawn. Sturgeon are large fish that often measure 6 to 7 feet long and certain species can live over a century. They must reach the river to spawn, which they do only every few years. (