South Bay Water Officials Reach Deal To Greatly Expand San Luis Reservoir Capacity

CBS Bay Area

November 13, 2024

After Monday's rainfall in the Bay Area, it may be hard to focus on the fact that climate change is threatening deeper and more frequent droughts. But water managers in the South Bay just entered into a deal that will add a huge amount to their storage by expanding the San Luis Reservoir in Merced County.

Just off Highway 152, between I-5 and the town of Gilroy, the San Luis Reservoir is the fifth largest reservoir in California, and it is completely man-made. The chances that it could be built today are highly unlikely, but the fact that it already exists presents a tremendous opportunity for extra water storage for the southern Bay Area.

But in 1962 it was just a dry valley surrounded by rolling hills. That's when a young, ambitious President John F. Kennedy arrived to show what it takes to move a rapidly growing nation into the future.

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