State officials have approved the final key permit needed to build the largest new reservoir in California in 50 years, which supporters say will supply water to millions of Californians from the Bay Area to Los Angeles to reduce the impacts of droughts — but opponents worry will harm the environment. On Wednesday night, the State Water Resources Control Board voted 5-0 to provide water rights to Sites Reservoir. The proposed 13-mile-long off-stream reservoir would be built in rural ranchlands in Colusa County, 70 miles northwest of Sacramento near the town of Maxwell. With two 300-feet high earthen dams and 9 other smaller dams 20- to 100-foot-high, the project would divert water from the Sacramento River during wet winter months to supply water to 24 million Californians and 500,000 acres of farmland in the Central Valley during dry periods. Estimated to cost $6.2 to $6.8 billion, the plan is designed to offset climate change, which threatens to melt the state’s Sierra snowpack in the coming decades. … Construction is set to begin by next July.

Other Sites Reservoir and Bay-Delta news:

• PBS KVIE (Sacramento, Calif.): California approves water right for Sites Reservoir, with construction planned soon
• CBS Sacramento (Calif.): California water board clears final hurdle for Sites Reservoir construction to begin
• The Sacramento Bee (Calif.): With Sites approval, California poised to build biggest water project in 50 years
• KRCR (Redding, Calif.): ‘Major blow to Tribes’: California approves Sites Reservoir permit
• Pacific Research Institute: Blog: New Bay-Delta rules highlight state’s slow water progress