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A 250' aerial view overlooking Sites, California, an unincorporated community within the Antelope Valley along the Sites Lodoga Road. Named after a landholder of the area named John H. Sites in 1887, the location housed a post office that was in operation until 1968.
The Antelope Valley has been the proposal site of the future Sites Reservoir, a $5.2 billion offstream reservoir project to be built by the California Department of Water Resources. Rather than collecting snow melt, the project would pump 470,000 to 640,000 acre-feet (580,000,000 to 790,000,000 cubic meters) per year of the winter flood flow from the Sacramento River upstream of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, through existing canals 180 miles to this location. About 12 extra miles of canals will have be constructed to reach the reservoir location. Annual yield will depend on precipitation and environmental restrictions. Construction is planned to begin in mid-2024 with final design expected to be done in 2025 and with operations targeted to begin by 2030. A number of dams would be required to hold the reservoir intact.
While there are environmental concerns, the project is increasingly more in the spotlight due to ongoing droughts & urban growth of the Bay Area. Currently less than a dozen people live in Antelope Valley w/ cattle grazing being the primary land use. If the reservoir does become reality, everything one sees in the valley in this view would be underwater.
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