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Improvements to and modernization of water storage capabilities in California and the rest of the U.S. will be made easier thanks to new legislation introduced in the House.

Last week, Congressman David Valadao, R-Calif., introduced H.R. 2714, dubbed the “Dam Authorization, Maintenance and Safety Act,” or DAMS Act, which would authorize the secretary of the interior to conduct evaluations to repair dams and evaluate increases to water storage capacity.

Current law under the Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978 dictates that the Bureau of Reclamation can only repair and modify dams when problems are identified from “new hydrologic or seismic data” or when actions are “deemed necessary for safety purposes.” This limiting language prevents the secretary of the interior from authorizing additional assessments of dam facilities unrelated to the qualifying issue. Thus, as a legislative summary of H.R. 2749 noted, “repairs or modifications resulting from normal deterioration or lack of maintenance are prohibited.”

H.R. 2749 addresses this restrictive policy by allowing the secretary to “evaluate multiple corrective actions following the SEED process.” The secretary would also be given authority to “evaluate multiple project benefits, including, but not limited to, additional conservation storage capacity, if the additional project benefits promote more efficient management of the facility and the costs associated with the activity are agreed to in writing with the projects proponents.”

Congressman Valadao said in a prepared statement, “California’s water crisis is a multi-faceted issue caused by naturally occurring weather patterns, destructive environmental regulations, and burdensome government bureaucracy. While government cannot make it rain, Congress can expand our water infrastructure and storage to ensure a reliable water supply for future years.”

There are over 1,400 named dams in California alone. Many of these dams were built in the early 1900s and have not seen repair or maintenance in recent years. In fact, 50 percent of U.S. dams were built between 1900 and 1950.

Democratic Congressman Jim Costa, one of 16 cosponsors of H.R. 2714, said in a press release that increasing storage capacity of dams in California is “crucial”:

“The additional authorities given to the Secretary under this bipartisan legislation will ensure that California is better equipped to combat future droughts,” continued Costa. “While we are still working to find short-term solutions to bring much-needed water to the Valley, this bill is critical if we are to develop long-term storage solutions to fix our broken water system.”

Rep. Costa also noted that an expansion of San Luis Reservoir could “increase storage capacity by between 130,000 acre-feet to 400,000 acre-feet, with increased annual yield between 43,000 acre-feet to 71,000 acre-feet.” This is just one example of the many improvements that can be made to California water storage facilities.

H.R. 2749 was introduced on June 12 and has since been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Has California built any dams in the past 55 years as its population has more than doubled – and as a drought rages? Yes – but not by the state.

Peter Gleick of the Pacific Water Institute recently stirred the waters about whether California has added any new water storage dams since 1959. The title of his article in the San Francisco Chronicle, “The Number of New Dams Built in California in the Past 50 (or 40, or 30, or 20) Years is Not Zero.”

Gleick is correct that five new dams were built in California since 1959 with a total capacity of 8.6 million acre-feet of water. However, we need to distinguish.

No water has been added to the State Water Project or federal Central Valley Project for farms and cities. The State of California has built no new dams since 1959.

However, the federal government and three local water districts have built the five dams Gleick mentioned.

The five dams are irrelevant because they do not effectively produce more water for the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project that provide water to cities and farms. Both the state and federal water systems depend on the largest reservoir of the Sierra snowpack that holds 15 million acre-feet of water.

So, while Gleick’s “not zero” is correct, it also could be calculated as “not much more relevant than zero.”

The dams listed by Gleick include:

Federal dams

1. New Melones Dam

The New Melones Dam, with a capacity of 2.4 million acre-feet of water storage, is the United States’ first “green dam.”  It was re-built in 1978 by the federal government.  It is no longer able to meet its original obligations to provide flood control protection and agricultural irrigation except in a rare wet year.  All of the water in the dam is now required only for fish flows during normal years. Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Modesto, has attempted without success to get as little as 100,000 acre-feet of water dedicated for agricultural irrigation.

2. Warm Springs Dam (Lake Sonoma)

Warm Springs Dam in Sonoma County was built in 1983 and holds 381,000 acre-feet of water.   The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operates the dam for flood control and fish flows; and for agricultural irrigation operates when enough water is available.  Warm Springs Reservoir is not counted on the list of state and federal reservoirs for water storage purposes as it serves only Sonoma County.  

Local dams

3. New Spicers Meadow Dam

The New Spicers Meadow Dam was built by the Calaveras County Water District in 1989 and holds 189,000 acre-feet of water.  It diverts water from the Stanislaus River that flows into the San Joaquin River and ultimately the Sacramento Delta.  The purpose of the reservoir is to provide drinking and agricultural water as well as hydro-power to Stanislaus and Calaveras counties only. Since it diverts water from the Delta, the State of California does not count it as contributing to water storage.

4. Los Vaqueros Dam and Reservoir

Los Vaqueros Dam and Reservoir was built by the Contra Costa County Water District in 1998 and holds 160,000 acre-feet of water solely dedicated to serving Contra Costa County.  The reservoir was built because during dry years water from the Sacramento Delta became salty.  The reservoir is also not counted by either state of federal authorities for water storage purposes.

5. Diamond Valley Lake

Diamond Valley Lake is an 800,000 acre-feet off-stream reservoir located in Riverside County in Southern California.  The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California built it in 1995.  It is also not counted as contributing to statewide water storage. It is a backup reservoir that holds surplus water for droughts and emergencies for Southern California only.  The reservoir is connected to the State Water Project by the 44-mile Inland Feeder pipeline.  Diamond Valley Lake only takes water from the State Water Project when surplus water is available for storage for future use.