California is planning construction of 13-mile long reservoir to solve its water crisis - and scores of people are set to lose their homes when flooding begins

Scores of people are set to see their homes flooded to make way for the construction of an enormous California reservoir which officials hope will help solve the area's water crisis.

The 13-mile long basin in Colusa County will eventually provide water to 24 million Californians when it is complete in 2032.

However, the $4 billion project will also see dozens of homes flattened in the process.

Almost 70 people will be displaced from the Antelope Valley, where the reservoir will be located.

The mammoth project, called Sites Reservoir, has been 45 years in the making and comes in response to the increasing threat of drought in the Golden State.

Scores of people are set to see their homes flooded to make way for the construction of a California reservoir

Almost 70 people will be displaced from the Antelope Valley, where the reservoir will be located.

The 13-mile long basin in Colusa County will eventually provide water to 24 million Californians when it is complete in 2032

While water has been bountiful for the last couple of years, water scarcity is always just around the corner as global temperatures continue to rise. 

'Sites Reservoir is an environmentally beneficial, off-river reservoir that will capture excess water from major storms and save it for drier periods,' the reservoir's website states.

If completed, the reservoir would store about 1.5 million acre-feet of water, or nearly 490 billion gallons.

The water would mostly be piped to southern and central California. 

However there has already been opposition to its construction, including a legal challenge, from environmental groups who say the reservoir would divert large quantities of water from the Sacramento River system.

'The Sites Reservoir would harm the Sacramento River ecosystem, threaten already imperiled fish species, and release greenhouse gas pollution,' the lawsuit states.

The mammoth project, called Sites Reservoir, has been 45 years in the making and comes in response to the increasing threat of drought in the Golden State

While water has been bountiful for the last couple of years, water scarcity is always just around the corner as global temperatures continue to rise

If completed, the reservoir would store about 1.5 million acre-feet of water, or nearly 490 billion gallons

'The Sites Reservoir project will cause much environmental harm, which falls on the public, and a small amount of good, which primarily benefits the project investors,' said Ron Stork, senior policy advocate at Friends of the River.

 'Among other harms, the reservoir will be a major greenhouse gas emitter. A recent analysis estimated that Sites would emit the equivalent of 80,000 gasoline-powered cars each year.'

'It's very difficult to justify the expense and environmental costs of big surface storage infrastructure projects, and the Sites Reservoir will cause far more harm than good,' John Buse, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, added.

'Water storage undoubtedly provides some benefit, but we should be looking at cheaper alternatives that do more for people, rivers and fish.' 

So far, the project has received nearly a quarter of a billion dollars from Congress, Mercury News reports.

It has the backing of Governor Gavin Newsom and stands to become the state's eighth largest reservoir once complete. 

'We are going to need more storage projects with climate change,' Matt Keller, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District told Mercury News.

'Our board is evaluating several different water supply projects from around Northern California and locally, and has been following this one for a while.'