This week, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest $449 million in a water storage project in the Sacramento Valley. A USDA press release said the Department’s Community Facilities direct loan program is investing in the Maxwell Water Intertie (MWI) to increase water management flexibility and improve water supply resiliency in rural California.
The project would connect the Tehama Colusa Canal (TC Canal) and the existing Glenn Colusa Irrigation District’s (GCID) main canal. This new pipeline would connect water from the Funks Reservoir to the GCID system. Once the waterway is completed, it will funnel water from the Sacramento River to the Sites Reservoir at Folsom Lake. The site was visited this week by Secretary Perdue along with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Representatives Jeff Denham (R-Stanislaus), David Valadao (R-Kings), Jim Costa (D-Madera), and John Garamendi (D-Yolo).