Opinion: Farmers to benefit as Sites Reservoir nears fruition
From prolonged drought to excessive flooding, water conditions in California have been anything but consistent during the past few years. That’s a problem for one of the world’s leading agricultural regions. With climate change threatening one of California’s biggest industries, we need to invest in a truly resilient and reliable water future. We need Sites Reservoir. After the worst drought on record in 2022, historic, wet winters in 2023 and 2024 produced record rain that filled reservoirs and aquifers above average levels. It was a welcome change for California’s farms, which were relying on depleted wells and aquifers in the previous two years. But it wasn’t enough to overcome losses from the state’s large groundwater deficit. If it were already operational, Sites Reservoir—a 1.5 million acre-feet off-stream water storage project planned for rural Glenn and Colusa counties north of Sacramento—would be 100% full as of this past spring.