STATE WATER CONTRACTORS

In the early 1960s, long-term contracts were signed with water agencies, known as the State Water Project contractors, to ultimately receive 4.2 million acre feet of water from the State Water Project. Through these contracts, the contractors are repaying principal and interest on both the general obligation bonds that initially funded the Project's construction and the revenue bonds that paid for additional facilities. The contractors also pay the costs to maintain, operate, and replace the Project’s facilities.

Today, there are 29 SWP contractors. They are entitled to receive the annual amounts of water specified in their contracts with DWR. The contracts run until the year 2035. Each contract contains a schedule of the amount of water the agency is entitled to receive each year. For most contracts, the amounts increase yearly up to the maximum annual entitlement. Water contractors may not receive their full entitlement in any one year due to hydrological conditions such as during times of low precipiitation. Contractors can also request to receive less than their normal entitlement.

The service areas of the 29 contracting agencies extend from Plumas County in the north to the Mexican border. These agencies’ service areas comprise almost one quarter of California's land area and more than two-thirds of its population.
SWP water is used mostly for irrigated agriculture in the southern San Joaquin Valley, where the largest agricultural contractor is Kern County Water Agency with an annual maximum entitlement of more than 1 million acre-feet. In other service areas, it satisfies mainly urban needs, such as for the agencies under the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California with an annual maximum entitlement of more than 2 million acre-feet.

The SWP made its first deliveries in 1962 to the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District Zone 7 and the Alameda County Water District. In 1965, deliveries were made to the Santa Clara Valley Water District, where imported supplies were used to solve a land subsidence problem caused by long-term overdrafting of local groundwater basins. In 1968, service was extended into the central and southern San Joaquin Valley and part of the North Bay area; and by 1972, Southern California areas began receiving their first deliveries. The Coastal Branch’s completion in 1997 began deliveries to Central Coast communities.
Through 1999, the SWP has delivered more than 57 million acre-feet of water to its contracting agencies.

Who are the SWP Contractors?
Twenty-nine water agencies have long-term contracts for water entitlements and repayment of facilities through the year 2035. Whether they receive their annual entitlements depends on available water supply and local water demands.