Furthering efforts to modernize California’s water infrastructure and improve public safety, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is starting construction on the Lake Perris Emergency Release Facility project this month in Riverside County. The project will build new infrastructure to safely redirect water and protect the community should Lake Perris need to be lowered during an emergency event, like a major earthquake. Planned improvements will include new levees, bridges, and a local drainage system downstream of Perris Dam. With this additional infrastructure, water could be redirected from Lake Perris through levees into a drainage channel and ultimately into the Perris Valley Channel. These upgrades along with improved roadside landscaping and relocation of utilities will provide protection to the community and other infrastructure, including a local school, Interstate 215, and a water treatment plant.