In the News
City of Fresno making a half a million dollar investment on Temperance Flat Dam Project
November 03, 2018
The proposed Temperance Flat Dam would be built in the middle of Millerton Lake, and could potentially hold a million acre-feet of water. Valley irrigation districts and the city of Fresno see it as an important key to storing water and surviving future droughts.
"It's the ability to store water in a year like this, the water went down the river out to the ocean and we had nowhere to put it, so this would allow us to carry over water for those dry years," said Thomas Esqueda.
Valley leaders request $1.3 billion for Temperance Flat Dam
August 14, 2017
FRESNO, Calif. - Today valley leaders achieved a major milestone in funding Temperance Flat Dam. Today they officially requested state funds to build it. The 1.3-million acre foot proposed dam would be built on the backside of Millerton Reservoir.
Temperance Flat Dam investment will pay off for California by Joaquin Arambula
August 13, 2017
The winter of 2017 was a gift in many ways. Not only did it bring desperately needed water to California and end a statewide drought emergency, it highlighted the need to build more surface water storage projects like Temperance Flat on the San Joaquin River.
Tapped Out: The History and Battle Over Water in California's San Joaquin Valley
May 01, 2017
The four-part docu-series examines the history of water in Central California. Tapped Out dives into a different part of the history and future of water in the San Joaquin Valley and includes the views of farmers, water leaders and environmentalists.
Working for Additional Surface Water Storage
March 01, 2016
Four years of record drought have demonstrated that California needs to find ways to save more water for our state’s inevitable not-so-rainy days.
That’s what Central California’s newest water agency has been formed to do. The San Joaquin Valley Water Infrastructure Authority was organized and became operational over the past few months with an objective of finding means of developing new surface water storage and infrastructure that benefits the entire region.
Why Groundwater Storage Depends Upon Adequate Surface Storage
April 01, 2016
Californians are becoming more and more attuned to the critical need to develop additional water storage. The drought, now stretching into a fifth straight year in our state, has made it clear that we need to capture and store” for later use” much more of the water that runs off from the mountains in big water years.
Temperance Flat is linchpin of Valley’s water future It must be built
December 01, 2016
Temperance Flat would capture much more runoff in years of high precipitation and provide its Bureau of Reclamation managers with flexibility to time releases with agricultural needs. As things stand now in wet years, water is let go before spring plantings and summer irrigation simply because Friant’s capacity had been reached.
Water Agencies Urge Development of Temperance Flat Reservoir
April 03, 2017
Four agencies representing water users in the San Joaquin Valley signed a joint letter Friday pledging collaboration to develop the Temperance Flat Reservoir project on the San Joaquin River northeast of Fresno.
The joint letter was during a news conference at Fresno City Hall.
Temperance Flat Offers Many Benefits
July 14, 2017
The San Joaquin Valley Weather Infrastructure Authority (SJVWIA), a Joint Power of Authority composed of many San Joaquin Valley cities, counties and water agencies, is charged with the goals of ensuring completion of the Temperance Flat Dam feasibility studies and preparing the necessary bond funding application to get the structure built.
