CALIFORNIA STATE WATER PROJECT

The State Water Project has helped fuel the economic growth of California.  But that economic growth will suffer as jobs are lost and expenses increase due to the lack of a reliable water supply.

The SWP’s main purposes are to provide water storage and delivery. Its
supply comes mainly from rainfall, snowmelt runoff, and excess flows in the
Delta during wet years.

SWP water is delivered to contracting agencies in Northern California, the San Francisco Bay
area, the Central Coast, San Joaquin
Valley, and Southern
California. The water supplements surface and groundwater
resources for most of these agencies.

The California
State Water Project is a water storage and delivery system of reservoirs,
aqueducts, powerplants and pumping plants. Its main purpose is to store water
and distribute it to 29 urban and agricultural water suppliers in Northern
California, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San
Joaquin Valley, the Central Coast,
and Southern California. Of the contracted
water supply, 70 percent goes to urban users and 30 percent goes to
agricultural users.

The Project makes deliveries to two-thirds of California‘s population. It is maintained
and operated by the California Department of Water Resources.

The Project is also operated to improve water quality in the Delta, control
Feather River flood waters, provide
recreation, and enhance fish and wildlife.

Size

Today, the Project includes 32 storage facilities, reservoirs and lakes; 17
pumping plants; 3 pumping-generating plants; 5 hydroelectric power plants; and
about 660 miles of open canals and pipelines.

The Project provides supplemental water to approximately 20 million
Californians and about 660,000 acres of irrigated farmland.

Source: 
California Department of Water Resources

 

Additional benefits:

Power

Flood Control                                        

Fish and Wildlife Protection

Recreation