THE PRESENT
State Water Project facilities map

 When the SWP began full operations in the 1970s, the State’s water needs were rapidly increasing. By 1963, California’s population had surpassed New York’s as the nation’s most populous state. The State’s temperate climate and opportunities attracted people from all over the world, seeking new careers and homes. Housing tracts developed rapidly in the suburbs around metroplitan areas.

Irrigation water rapidly transformed agriculture big business in California. For more than 50 years, the state has remained the nation’s number one producer of farm products. Crops flourished in the arid but fertile soil of the San Joaquin Valley with irrigated water. Ranging from fruits to nuts to flowers, these crops filled both the nation’s and the world’s markets. SWP water also allowed farmers to supplement their local supplies and reduce their use of declining groundwater basins.
California’s economy was booming as well. Industries moved or relocated to the Golden State, where the water supplies seemed plentiful. Metropolitan areas, especially in Southern California, expanded with imported water supplies.

The SWP, along with local water projects, played a large part in California’s ranking as the seventh largest in the world. Linking the two parts of the state, the Project redistributed water from places of abundance to areas in need. Project water helped ensure that, as a whole, California could prosper.

Today, the California State Water Project is the nation’s largest state-built water and power development and distribution system with 32 major storage facilities (including 20 primary lakes and reservoirs), 17 pumping plants, 5 hydroelectric power plants, 3 pump-generating plants, and more than 660 miles of canals, tunnels and siphons.

SWP water deliveries average an annual 3 million acre-feet of water to the 29 contracting water agencies that paid for the construction of its facilities and cover the Project’s operating and maintenance costs. SWP water provides drinking water for nearly 20 million Californians and water used to irrigate more than 6,000,000 acres of farmland within the areas it serves. Areas that receive SWP water includes Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley, the Central Coast, and Southern California.

SWP Benefits | Water Supply | Flood Control
Power
Fish and Wildlife Protection
Salinity Control | Recreation
The Project Operations Center
POC and ACC Operations
California Aqueduct Operations
The Control System
State Water Contractors
Financing of the SWP