Chino Basin Conjunctive Use Environmental Water Storage/Exchange Program

   

The Chino Basin Conjunctive Use Environmental Water Storage/Exchange Program (CBEWP) would construct an advanced water treatment facility (AWTF) and distribution facilities that would store up to 15 thousand acre-feet (TAF) per year of treated wastewater in the Chino Basin Water Bank (CBWB). During the first 25 years of operation of the proposed CBEWP, the CBWB, an existing water bank, would be operated in a way that dedicates blocks of water of up to 50 TAF per each dry and critical year, for up to three consecutive dry and critical years, to enhance instream flows in the Feather River below Lake Oroville. This would require agreements with one or more State Water Project (SWP) partners to forego SWP delivery in exchange for receiving CBWB water, and agreements with the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to re-operate Oroville Dam and manage the water to provide an ecosystem benefit. After the initial 25 years of operation, ecosystem benefits would cease, and the water stored in the CBWB would be extracted for local, non-public water supply.