Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California's (MWD) primary purpose is to provide a supplemental supply of water for domestic and municipal uses to its member agencies. MWD serves its member agencies as a water wholesaler and has no retail customers.

MWD is comprised of 26 member agencies, including 14 cities, 11 municipal water districts, and one county water authority, which collectively serve the residents and businesses of more than 300 cities and numerous unincorporated communities in 6 counties. MWD’s water is a supplemental supply for its member agencies, most of whom have other sources of water. MWD’s principal sources of water are the State Water Project and the Colorado River.

LADWP is a member agency and relies on imported water purchased from MWD to meet its current water supply requirements not otherwise met from its other resources (the Los Angeles Aqueduct, local groundwater and recycled water). For the five fiscal years ending June 30, 2015, L.A.'s water purchases from MWD averaged 280 million gallons per day (approximately 314,000 acre-feet per year), which constituted approximately 57% of the LADWP’s total water supply.

State Water Project

One of MWD’s two major sources of water is the State Water Project, which is owned by the State and operated by the California Department of Water Resources. This project transports Feather River water stored in and released from Oroville Dam and unregulated flows diverted directly from the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta south via the California Aqueduct to four delivery points near the northern and eastern boundaries of MWD’s service area. The total length of the California Aqueduct is approximately 444 miles.

Colorado River Aqueduct

The Colorado River was MWD’s original source of water after its establishment in 1928 and is the other major source of water. The Colorado River Aqueduct, which is owned and operated by MWD, transports water from the Colorado River approximately 242 miles to its terminus at Lake Mathews in Riverside County.