U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue recently announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is investing more than $449 million to help build a water management system that will increase the reliability of the California water supply, and create more than 560 jobs in the Sacramento Valley. βModern and reliable water infrastructure is the backbone to prosperity in the Sacramento Valley and across our nation,β stated Perdue.
"Every westerner knows the saying 'whiskey's for drinking and water's for fighting,' but President Trump, Secretary Perdue and I are trying to make that obsolete. We all share a commitment to storing and delivering water for farmers, families and commercial users in California," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.
The Maxwell Water Intertie will work to to meet the demands of future water needs, increase storage capacity and update the area's water infrastructure. The project is made possible through the USDA's Community Facilities direct loan program. The Maxwell Water Intertie (MWI) facilities will connect the existing Tehama Colusa Canal (TC Canal) and the existing Glenn Colusa Irrigation Districtβs (GCID) main canal. These facilities will increase water management flexibility and improve water supply resiliency for participants during dry years, and directly increase the efficiency and reliability of water management in the western Sacramento Valley.
The MWI includes the construction of 3-1/2 miles of 12' diameter pipeline along with a new pump station that will be used to pump water from the GCID system to the existing Tehama-Colusa Canal Authorityβs (TCCA) Funks Reservoir. Exchanges of water from Funks Reservoir to the GCID system will occur through the new pipeline by gravity flow in the reverse direction.
The project also includes the construction of a new 1,200 acre-foot Terminal Regulating Reservoir (TRR) to be constructed adjacent to the GCID Main Canal that will help to regulate flows in the GCID main canal and support the operation of the Maxwell Water Intertie facilities.