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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RECORD

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Record rains heighten push to speed up work on California's long-approved water storage plans

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Sloan | Venable LLP

Amid the impact of recent heavy rains and fire season fast approaching, questions persist about where things stand with water storage projects and why the state still hasn’t completed new ones with funding approved by voters almost a decade ago.

The California Water Commission timeline shows construction on one is scheduled to begin this year.

Whenever new storage capacity is delayed or unavailable, there is a lost opportunity, William Sloan, a partner in the Environmental Practice at Venable LLP, told the Northern California Record by email.

“Especially when we have substantial precipitation like these past several months,” Sloan said. “Given the severity of drought conditions we have experienced, California needs every tool in the toolbelt to best manage its limited available water resources. The potential new storage projects will not solve the water issues California faces, but each incremental addition helps us down the road to be better prepared. Also, measuring these projects against statewide needs can often distort their value—the projects can have very meaningful benefits for the specific localities that will have access to the water.”

A new bill, SB 861, to expedite water storage projects through CEQA review has received unanimous bipartisan support, but is already opposed by the Sierra Club. The expedited process, which was first enacted in 2011, has helped to help build sports arenas and was recently expanded to address the state’s housing shortage.

California’s Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has many benefits, but expediency is not one of them, Sloan said.

“One of CEQA’s primary selling points is that it creates a common framework for evaluating potential environmental impacts; however, the procedures involved can definitely make the planning of a project take significantly longer,” Sloan said. “Hanging over every project is also the potential for litigation (challenging the CEQA review), which can considerably extend a project’s timeframe. The time for CEQA litigation to run its course always has to be taken into account in project planning.”

As CEQA played a central role in blocking new student housing in Berkeley earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom urged action and the Little Hoover Commission held three hearings about it last month.

The Sites Reservoir final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is due for release this summer.

“There are too many variables to make a reliable prediction on when construction could start on the Sites project,” Sloan said. “The final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement should be released relatively soon. In the event a lawsuit is filed, a decision from the Superior Court would not be likely until 2024. If the approvals are upheld, it is not impossible that construction could start next year. Construction would then take five years or more.”

As California has been through several years of drought, by some estimates it should be effortless to churn out critical water storage facilities.

“Water resource planning is a marathon, not a sprint,” Sloan said. “It’s almost cliché in the water professional community that California needs to have an ‘all of the above’ approach to upgrading and further developing its water storage and delivery infrastructure.

“Hopefully the recent climatic conditions are helping people to appreciate the importance of water, its cost, and the real world impacts that follow-on when it’s not there.”

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