ABC 7-

With concerns lingering over the next California drought, the Santa Clara Valley Water District is moving ahead with plans to build the largest reservoir in the Bay Area in some two decades east of Gilroy, north of Pacheco Pass Road.

The new reservoir’s capacity of 140,000 acre feet is nearly eight times larger than the district’s Lexington Reservoir, which is visible near Los Gatos as drivers take Highway 17 across the Santa Cruz mountains between San Jose and Santa Cruz. Lexington is the district’s second largest reservoir. The projected cost will be $969 million. About half the money is expected to come from bond funds from the California Water Commission, approved by voters in 2014. Proposition 1 allows bond sales to finance $7.5 billion in water projects. Valley Water will have to cover the remainder. The Commission is expected to make a funding decision by late July.

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