The historic $2.7 billion of voter-approved bond money will go to elevating two Bay Area dams, at Los Vaqueros Reservoir near Livermore and Pacheco Reservoir east of Gilroy, as well as to the development of two much larger dams in the Central Valley.
Collectively, the projects would add about 4.3 million acre feet of water storage across the state, the equivalent of about a dozen of San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy reservoirs.
Although the larger dams, at the proposed 13-mile-long Sites Reservoir along the Sacramento River and 18-mile-long Temperance Flat Reservoir on the San Joaquin River, are still well short of the money they need to get off the ground, the Bay Area projects are now close to moving forward.
“Getting the money is a greater step toward water reliability for the Bay Area region,” said Oliver Symonds, a spokesman for the Contra Costa Water District, which was allocated $459 million for the proposed $980 million expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir.
The reservoir, which holds water piped in from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, would grow by 70 percent, increasing its capacity to 275,000 acre-feet of water, enough to supply more than a half million households for a year.
With $485 million of Prop.
1 money, the Santa Clara Valley Water District plans to construct a new $969 million dam on Pacheco Creek in eastern Santa Clara County, in the footprint of a smaller dam.
The project would store 500,000 acre feet of water piped in from the nearby Sacramento River.
“But it’s a step in the right direction.” Watson said he is pursuing funding from other sources, including the many water agencies that would benefit from Sites, largely districts that provide water for farms.
1 funding for water storage is the most the state has allocated since construction of the State Water Project, which consists of 21 dams and hundreds of miles of canals, built largely in the 1960s.

Nagpur: Despite five weeks of monsoon, major dams in Nagpur division only have 23% water storage, which may lead to water shortage after the season is over.
Last year, Vidarbha had received poor rainfall and the dams had not filled up completely.
The medium size dams of the division have relatively better storage at 41% while small dams are 25% full.
The storage in major dams of Amravati division is marginally better than Nagpur at 24%.
The small and medium dams of west Vidarbha have lesser water than Nagpur division.
The biggest source of worry for the city is poor storage in Totladoh reservoir.
Ever since construction of Chaurai dam on the Pench river upstream, Totladoh is not getting filled up.
Due to low stock in Totladoh, Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) has asked Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to lift water from Kanhan and use as less water as possible from the reservoir.
It has also asked NMC to enforce a water cut in the city.
Nagpur will be fortunate if work on the project starts before next monsoon.

ISLAMABAD : The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) to tackle the issue of water scarcity has ordered the immediate construction of Bhasha and Mohmand Dam.
The SC under Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday heard a case related to scarcity of water and construction of new dams.
Water resources are pertinent not only for human lives but for the country’s stability, the court orders said.
It further said that the Council of Common Interest did not express any reservation against Bhasha and Mohmand Dam.
During the hearing of case, the CJP remarked, “How much water are we wasting?” The ministry of power and water responded that water worth millions of dollars is being wasted, adding that in one year 90 million acre-feet water is wasted.
He said that after Tarbela, a new dam should be built every ten years.
According to the ministry of power and water, one million acre-feet water costs $500 million.
During the hearing, the CJP asked why the government does not want dams to be built, to which the officials of the ministry responded that the underlying issue is that it isn’t the government’s priority.

Another fisherman, Ilahi Bakhsh who lives in Doria village close to the sea in Gwadar, complained that he also faces great difficulties in getting safe drinking water.
Though it is estimated that billions of rupees would be invested in Gwadar as part of CPEC, at the moment, the city faces immense issues with water scarcity being the biggest one.
However, in order to meet the water requirements, water is coming through tankers from Turbat’s Mirani Dam, which costs around Rs15,000-18,000.” Sattar also said, “The government provides water via tankers once a week.
Gwadar has three dams.
This desalinated water will later be provided all across Gwadar through tankers.
What does science have to say on drought in Gwadar?
The study classifies droughts into four different categories: meteorological, agricultural, hydrological and socio-economic.
Tahir Rasheed, a senior environmentalist, said the issues of Gwadar are no different from other cities of Balochistan.
This desalinated plant has been functional for the past eight months, but since there is no agreement between the Balochistan government and the Chinese who own the desalination plant, a golden opportunity has been missed.
Bringing water from Mirani Dam to Gwadar for only one year cost two billion rupees.

The state-owned Rádio de Cabo Verde quoted Agriculture minister Gilbeto Silva saying the Poilão, the country’s largest dam, had dried up.
The Poilão dam on the Santiago Island, was only two years ago overflowing.
“This is one of the worst droughts in the last 40 years,” Mr Silva said, adding the situation was only comparable to those experienced in 1977 and 1947.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has included Cape Verde among the countries needing foreign food assistance, but Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva, was quoted saying the situation was not about food insecurity.
Cape Verde is a volcanic archipelago off the western coast of Africa.
Nine of the islands are inhabited.
Cape Verde has few natural resources and suffers from scarce rainfall and limited fresh water.
Cape Verde has experienced extensive emigration and it diaspora outnumbers the resident population.
Virtually every Cape Verdean family has emigrant members.
Large-scale emigration started in the 1800s, when Cape Verdeans took part in a great trans-Atlantic migration, motivated by recurrent episodes of drought and famine.

Steady winter rains over the last week have substantially eased Cape Town’s worst drought in a century, replenishing reservoirs for the western Cape region of South Africa to levels well above last year’s, officials said on Monday.
Dam levels have risen to 31.5 percent as of this week compared with just 21 percent the same time a year ago, said Rashid Khan, regional head at the water and sanitation department.
The drought has ravaged crops, hit tourist numbers and forced changes to consumption habits in Cape Town and surrounding areas as mandatory water restrictions were implemented.
We urge water users – domestic and industries – to continue using water sparingly,” he said, adding that it was too soon to ease a limit of 50 litres a day for domestic users, which has helped to halve consumption since 2016.
“We urge water users – domestic and industries – to continue using water sparingly,” he said, adding that it was too soon to ease a limit of 50 litres a day for domestic users, which has helped to halve consumption since 2016.
Day Zero explained Day Zero will be the start of active water rationing.
As far as possible, drinking water will continue to be supplied to some critical areas.
It also means that a portion of water collected from the distribution points will have to be used, for example, to flush toilets.
This will be impractical and hugely challenging at the very least.
Site selection is unlikely to be evenly distributed across the city because distribution sites will depend on existing water pipelines.

JOHANNESBURG – Western Cape locals can breathe a small sigh of relief on Monday after dam levels jumped 6,5 percentage points compared to the same time last year.
“The average level for dams across the Western Cape for the week starting 11 June was 25.9%,” a statement said.
This was higher than the 23,8 percent recorded last week and the 19.4 percent at the same time in 2017.
The latest figures were released by Western Cape Local Government and Environmental Affairs MEC Anton Bredell on Monday.
He said while dam levels were up, the drought in the province is still far from over.
“Most major dams in the Western Cape are showing slight increases,” Bredell said.
READ: Cold front to bring desperately needed rain to drought-hit Cape “The Voëlvlei dam, Theewaterskloof and Bergriver are all showing slight improvements.” “A lot more rain is needed before the end of the winter season.
The latest predictions indicate we are in for some cold and wet weather over the next ten days.
From Thursday an intense cold front is expected in the Western Cape for what seems to be about a week.” eNCA

A TOTAL of 120 villagers of Malabe in Wainibuka, Tailevu, now have access to piped drinking water after the completion of their $100k Rural Water Project.
The project included the upgrading of the existing dam, the installation of a two-inch strainer and a two-inch outlet valve, the replacement of the galvanised two-inch water main with PVC pipes from the dam to the reservoir, and the construction of a 10,000gallon ferro-cement water tank.
The project also saw the extension of the 32-inch water main to new settlers in the village.
Water Authority of Fiji chief operating officer Samanmal Ekanayake said the people of Malabe had assisted the WAF crew members in undertaking the project.
“This empowers the water committee to be responsible for ongoing maintenance and repairs, thus ensuring the longevity and sustainability of their village water supply system.
For this project, the village water committee received $1640 as payment for the village assistance provided,” said Mr Ekanayake in a statement.
The villagers were drinking directly from the dam and there was no storage tank for water, and they often resorted to using the Wainibuka River for bathing and washing.

The Iraqi parliament failed on Sunday to convene an extraordinary session to tackle the country’s drought due to a lack of quorum.
There has been mounting popular and official anger over the drought, which was compounded by a shortage of water from the Tigris River after Turkey kicked off operation of its Ilisu dam.
Speaker Salim al-Jabouri had called for the extraordinary parliament session to address the crisis, but only 50 out of 328 lawmakers made it to the meeting.
Prior to the session, he had held talks with Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Fatih Yildiz on means of cooperation between Baghdad and Ankara to tackle the issue in a way that would guarantee both their interests.
Water resources minister Dr. Hassan al-Janabi had said during the parliament session that the “real damage” that Iraq will incur from the Ilisu dam will be felt next year.
Turkey began filling the dam on March 1, sparking concern in Iraq over mounting water shortages.
The Tigris River does not flow from Iraq and therefore it has no choice but to hold dialogue and negotiations with Turkey to resolve the crisis, added the minister.
The Tigris river flows from both Turkey and Iran.
Janabi said that agreements had been reached between Iraq and Turkey to delay its filling of dams until after holding consultations with Baghdad.
The minister had revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday that he will travel to Turkey and Iran to address the water file.

Aa Aa Small-scale hydropower projects are soaring in number across the Balkans — but they’re also destroying the region’s wild rivers and threatening one of Europe’s most biodiverse areas, according to environmental groups.
Despite the environmental damages that these plants produce, governments and companies are continuing to fund their construction.
The Balkan region represents a biodiversity hotspot and many of its rivers are still in outstanding conditions, according to Pippa Gallop, an expert from BankWatch, a global network focused on monitoring activities of several international financial institutions.
Ulrich Eichelmann of RiverWatch, an organisation focused on protecting the Balkan rivers from dam construction, said local communities need rivers’ freshwater in order “to irrigate their fields and gardens, sometimes use it as drinking supply, to catch fish and — most importantly — for their sheep, goats and cattle.” He added: “There are villages in Albania with hundreds or even thousands of sheep that rely on natural sources to water their flocks.” These types of plants also damage areas surrounding rivers and streams.
In most cases, flagrant violations of national laws and international financial institutions’ standards are visible and include blocking fish passes, releasing insufficient or no water at all downstream, and creating significant erosion with access roads.” Flouting local environmental laws?
An EBRD spokesperson refuted this, however, saying that all of their projects: “Must fulfil strict local and international laws and regulations and under these conditions we are committed to sustainable hydropower solutions.
He added that EIB does not “usually finance directly small-scale hydropower projects”, as these are normally financed with credit lines via local banks as intermediaries.
In Valbona National Park in Albania, three plants are under construction, leaving locals without water supply.
According to Schwarz, there is no restoration concept for dam-affected rivers and says there should be a “moratorium for new hydropower plants construction for specific rivers in the countries that wish to access the EU.” For Eichelmann, financial institutions like EBRD and EIB must stop funding Balkan projects, and instead push these countries to more balanced renewable energy production, focused on solar and wind power.
The bank finances the full range of renewable energy activities both inside and outside the EU.