A statewide debate over a proposed reservoir
Under California's proposed $7.5 billion water bond, it could take years before growers see any water from new storage projects, if they ever do. But farm groups say the measure would still provide a boost to existing water supplies.
MAXWELL, Calif. — Seventh-generation farmer Phil Sites is caught in the middle of a statewide debate over a proposed reservoir that would bear his family name.
The Sites family settled in a little valley west of here in the 1850s, and the tiny town of Sites was named after it. Now Sites, a rice, walnut and cattle producer, is the only family member who still lives there, although his cousins and his wife’s family also own property in the area.
But the proposed Sites Reservoir is on the short list of projects that could get funding from Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion water bond on the Nov. 4 ballot. If built, the reservoir would flood the Sites farm and neighboring ranches.
While Sites takes no position on the proposition, he said he’s “not really in favor of” the reservoir but understands that it’s needed.
“It just seems to me they could pick places other than a fertile valley to put a dam,” Sites said.
While Sites’ predicament is unique, the state’s 78,000 other farmers and ranchers will join the rest of California voters to determine the fate of Proposition 1. The massive bond would build or expand reservoirs and a fleet of other projects aimed at bringing relief to a water-short state. At stake is much of the $43 billion in crops and livestock they produce each year.