State Water Project

The Supply

The State Water Project supplies about 40% of our total water supply. This water is imported from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and/or Lake Del Valle via the South Bay Aqueduct and is purified at our water treatment plants before being delivered to customers living in central and south Fremont.

Storage Facilities

The SWP, managed by the DWR, is the largest state-built, multi-purpose water project in the country. The SWP facilities include 21 dams and reservoirs; 21 pumping plants; 4 pumping-generating plants; 5 hydroelectric power plants; and approximately 700 miles of aqueducts. The water stored in the SWP storage facilities originates from rainfall and snowmelt runoff in Northern and Central California watersheds. The SWP's primary storage facility is Lake Oroville in the Feather River Watershed. Releases from Lake Oroville flow down the Feather River to the Sacramento River, which subsequently flows to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Water Delivery

The SWP diverts water from the Delta through the Banks Pumping Plant which lifts water from the Clifton Court Forebay (in the Delta) to the California Aqueduct and Bethany Reservoir. From Bethany Reservoir, the South Bay Pumping Plant lifts water into the South Bay Aqueduct, which delivers State Water Project supplies to ACWD and other Bay Area water agencies in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties.