Council authorizes Redding’s participation in Sacramento River Settlement Contractors’ drought protection program and accepts $2.388M in resilience funding

The City Council authorized the city’s participation in a 20‑year Drought Protection Program (DPP) negotiated between the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors (SRSC) and the Bureau of Reclamation, and accepted the city’s $2,388,000 reimbursement allocation to fund water‑resiliency projects.

Water staff explained the SRSC group represents long‑standing water contractors that used the Sacramento River prior to Shasta Dam and negotiated long‑term Central Valley Project contracts with the Bureau. The DPP agreement is designed to reduce the risk of a repeat of the extreme 2022 allocation year by increasing carryover storage in Shasta Lake and funding resiliency projects across SRSC members. Redding’s contract share is about 21,000 acre‑feet of water under the long‑term contract; staff said that in a historically bad year the DPP could permit allocations to fall to 50% of normal under specified conditions (the existing overarching agreement contemplates a 75% floor but the DPP includes different mechanics).

Staff emphasized $2.388 million over 20 years is relatively modest in water‑utility terms but could fund well rehabilitation, treatment, or partial funding of a new well or other groundwater resilience projects. Participation in the DPP was the final action among larger SRSC members; staff recommended joining to secure the funding and the negotiated rules and to avoid being disadvantaged if the bureau and other stakeholders adopted different emergency mechanisms. Council approved the resolution.

Staff said any candidate projects would return to council for project‑level authorization and appropriation.