A Sacramento Valley reservoir that Zone 7 Water Agency, which supplies Pleasanton, has been helping plan for nearly a decade cleared a major state hurdle Wednesday.
The State Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously to grant a water right permit to the Sites Reservoir project, an off-stream lake planned about 65 miles northwest of Sacramento near the town of Maxwell, according to the board and Courthouse News Service.
The permit lets the project divert up to 986,000 acre-feet a year from the Sacramento River, which the board says is enough water for about 8.4 million people annually.
Where Zone 7 fits
Zone 7 is the wholesale supplier for Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore and part of San Ramon, serving about 265,000 residents through four retail agencies, according to the agency's profile on the Sites Project Authority website.
That profile says about 70% of Zone 7's supply is imported water and that the agency joined the Sites Reservoir Committee in 2016, citing the need for new supplies to meet future demand and keep deliveries reliable.
Zone 7 is one of more than 20 water agencies represented on the reservoir committee, alongside Central Valley farm water districts and Southern California suppliers.
What the permit allows
The board said the reservoir would be the state's biggest new surface storage project in over half a century. Under the permit, the project may divert only between November and mid-June, and only when flows are surplus to senior water rights, Delta water quality and fish needs.
It must also follow the Bay-Delta Plan update the board adopted last week, use fish screens, and meet water quality limits on releases.
Wednesday's approval covers only the Sacramento River. Whether Sites may also capture water from Funks and Stone Corral creeks will be taken up at a separate hearing starting in January, the board said.
