Funding is needed to support a 12-foot raise of Pine Flat Dam to increase storage capacity in Pine Flat Reservoir and mitigate the effects of climate variability by increasing flood protection, enhancing drought resilience, increase water supply reliability, enhance carbon-free electric power generation, and improve water storage management.
Click HERE for Raising Pine Flat Dam Backgrounder.
OVERVIEW: Pine Flat Dam is located in the Kings River watershed approximately 25 miles east of Fresno, California. Completed in 1954, it is owned, operated, and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The principal purpose of Pine Flat Dam is for flood control. Conservation and recreation are ancillary uses. Approximately 1,000,000 Californians live and work in the geographic area served by the Kings River. The river’s water supply is used to irrigate over a million acres of farmland, supply municipal drinking water, and replenish a groundwater supply that serves rural residents and over 100 disadvantaged communities.
HOW IT WORKS: Projected climate change in the Kings River watershed would alter the volume and timing of inflows to Pine Flat Reservoir and affect the availability of water supply for the many downstream uses including municipal, agricultural, rural communities and energy generation. The raising of the dam 12 feet would add an additional 120,700 total acre feet of storage. This increased storage capacity at Pine Flat Reservoir will improve water storage management, especially during the climate extremes of extended droughts and intense floods.
KEY BENEFITS
- Increased flood protection
- Groundwater sustainability
- Municipal and industrial water supply including Disadvantaged Communities
- Recreation
- River ecosystem improvement
- Conserve and develop water and carbon free power resources.
FUNDING NEEDS
Estimated capital cost: $638 million – potential cost range $480 million to $960 million