A federal, state and local partnership the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the California Department of Water Resources and the Contra Costa Water District (CCWD) have been working together to address some of the most difficult problems facing the Delta fishery protection, water supply reliability, and water quality. The Initial Alternatives Information Report (or IAIR) explains and begins to analyze a potential project to address these problems expanding Los Vaqueros Reservoir. The IAIR defines three objectives that must be addressed by a new project:
(1) Improve water supply reliability in drought years for Bay Area water agencies
(2) Provide lower cost environmental water to protect fish in the Delta, and
(3) Improve water quality for Bay Area water agencies and their customers
After examining a broad range of possible ways to meet these objectives, the agencies identified eight initial alternative concepts for configuring and operating an expanded reservoir. These alternatives are described in the IAIR and include alternative sizes of the Reservoir expansion, pumping plants and pipelines. The agencies will now refine the engineering and operations modeling of these alternatives and consider the costs, economics, and environmental impacts.
An expanded Los Vaqueros Reservoir project would include a new Delta intake and fish screens, conveyance facilities from the Delta to the reservoir, a new dam and expanded reservoir, conveyance facilities from the reservoir to Bay Area water users, and additional new recreation facilities.