Image courtesy of Sites Project Authority

By HARNONY STILES

MAXWELL, Calif. – Northern California’s biggest construction project currently underway is the $3.9 billion Sites Reservoir in the Sacramento Valley.

The Sites Project Authority selected Barnard Construction Company as the Construction Manager at Risk to build the dams, roads and bridges for the Sites Reservoir project.

Located about 70 miles northwest of Sacramento, the project consists of a 1.5-million-acre-foot off-stream reservoir. It is designed to adapt to changing climate conditions, providing a more flexible water supply for California. Future climate projections show more precipitation will come in the form of rain and not snow, but the current water management system does not have the infrastructure to capitalize on large amounts of rainfall and runoff. As a rain-fed storage solution, Sites Reservoir will be able to capture water from these extreme storm events, which can be used by communities, farms and the environment when water is more scarce.

Once operational, Sites Reservoir will also be integrated with the State Water Project and Central Valley Project, improving management of California’s water supply during extremes such as flooding and drought.

This project is moving into the major construction procurement phase with site preparation work beginning.