FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
about DWR and the SWP

Q. Why did California need a state water system?

A. The Gold Rush encouraged immigrants from all over the world to seek their fortunes in California. After the precious metal became scarce, many stayed to farm and find other employment. Metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, and their populations grew, demanding more water for their needs. Regional water systems were constructed but soon demand outgrew supply. To community leaders, it was obvious that a state system was vital to supplementing local water resources. The Division of Water Resources, the precedessor to DWR, soon began investigations all over the state to search out the best route for what would become the SWP.
 
Q. How large is the SWP system?

A. The SWP extends from three recreational lakes in Plumas County to its terminus in Riverside County. The system has numerous storage facilities that capture and store water until it is needed. Many of these storage facilities, its lakes and reservoirs, also serve as recreational areas.
 
Its pumping plants move the water through canals, underground pipelines, siphons, and tunnels. This includes the 444-mile California Aqueduct, visible along Interstate Highway 5. Power plants provide the energy to transport the water to destinations statewide.
 
The SWP was recognized in 2001 by the American Society of Civil Engineering as one of the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century. The only other engineering feat receiving the same award in California was the Golden Gate Bridge.
 
Q. When was the SWP constructed?

A. Construction began on the Oroville site (relocations of highways and railroad tracks) in 1957, after a devastating flood struck the Yuba City-Marysville area in 1955. Emergency appropriations were approved each year until the 1959 Burns-Porter Act was approved by the Legislature. In 1960, the voters approved the $1.75 billion bond measure to officially begin construction. In 1973, with the completion of Lake Perris in Riverside County, the initial SWP facilities, along with the South Bay Aqueduct (1969), were completed. North Bay Aqueduct, Phase II, was completed in 1988 and Coastal Branch Aqueduct, Phase II, in 1997; and the East Branch Extension, Phase I, in 2003.
 
Q. Did taxpayers pay for these facilities?

A. Taxpayers passed the $1.75 billion bond measure that provided funding for the initial SWP facilities. However, the SWP contractors, who have long-term contracts for water deliveries from the Project, are repaying these bonds, plus interest.
 
Q. How are new SWP facilities’ construction funded?

A. They are funded mainly by revenue bonds. These bonds, plus interest, are being repaid by the SWP contractors.
 
Q. What functions do the various SWP facilities serve?

A. Reservoirs and lakes capture water from the surrounding watershed and store it for later use by downstream users. Pumping plants provide the force to transport water from place to place, especially rises in elevations. Power plants produce energy through the force of water falling through penstocks (pipelines) that spin turbines to generate electricity. Aqueducts, pipelines, canals, tunnels and siphons serve as facilities through which water flows.
 
Q. How is the Department involved in the SWP?

A. Its engineers planned, designed, and oversaw the construction of the facilities. Contractors placed bids to construct various structures. Currently, DWR staff operates and maintains all facilities, as well as keeps accounting of contracts and water deliveries. DWR staff has also improved SWP control systems and communications.
 
Q. How is the SWP operated?

A. Basically, all of the pumping and power plants and check structures (66 gates that control the flow of water from section to section in the canal and valves that control water flow in underground pipelines) can be remotely controlled. The Project Operations Center in Sacramento is the “brains” of the SWP and monitors all operations along the Project. Also, all major facilities can be remotely controlled by thePOC. In reality, the Department’s five field divisions monitor and operate all facilities within their jurisdictions.
 
Q. How does producing power reduce the cost of water delivery to SWP contractors?

A. To transport water over the state's terrain, power is required in great quantities. Because the Department is California’s largest power consumer, it must daily balance its power loads with its power resources, energy produced by its power plants.
 
To do this, DWR staff sells, buys, and exchanges power through long-term contracts with other utilities. The Department can do this because it became a bulk utility in 1983, since it is one of the state's largest producer of power. When more power is produced than is used, it can be sold to reduce the cost of water deliveries. DWR's operational flexibility, in using off-peak power to pump water, allows the Project to economically manage its power resources.
 
Q. How large is the California Aqueduct?

A. It is 444 miles long, starting from the Delta and ending at Lake Perris. Most of that length is open concrete-lined canal. The rest is underground pipelines, tunnels, and channels. The canal width and depth varies. Its widest section is located along the San Luis Canal, which is part of the joint-use complex, which varies from 50 to 110 feet and its depth is around 30 feet.
 
Q. What is an aqueduct?

A. An aqueduct can be an open canal, lined or unlined, or pipeline, buried or not.
 
Q. Can you swim or boat in the California Aqueduct?

A. No, you cannot swim or boat in the Aqueduct. Water in the canal looks calm but is actually quite turbulent beneath the surface. Once you fall in, it is very difficult to get out because the concrete sides are slippery. You must watch for safety lines, strung on buoys across the canal, and safety ladders and use them to get out of the aqueduct.
 
A majority of the California Aqueduct still remains open to fishing and bicycling with exception to portions that are deemed at risk. However, should the national advisory be raised to its highest level, Red, or if the threat conditions warrant, the Aqueduct system may be closed to public access and use with little or no advance warning.
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Q. How does water flow down the aqueduct?

A. The aqueduct uses a combination of pumping and gravity flows to move water. There are 66 check structures along the mainstem canal. These structures have radial gates that can close a section of water between check structures. When water needs to be moved in the canal, the radial gates are simultaneously opened (and later closed) so that the water flows as if in an open pipeline. The gates, when closed, can create a nearly watertight section between check structures. This is done for inspection and repairs
 
Q. Is the Department concerned about how its pumping operation affects the wildlife and fish and the environment as a whole?

A. DWR created a separate Division of Environmental Services (the largest in state service) to address an array of environmental issues that can be impacted by its water operations. DWR environmental scientists conduct fish surveys and track migrations of listed fish species—the chinook salmon and the delta smelt. Pumping is stopped if these fish migrations could be affected by water operations.
 
Other environmental projects include habitat restoration in the Delta and other regions, creation of fish passage criteria, mitigation project development, and interagency data collection on various fish and wildlife. DWR environmental scientists also monitor the Department's compliance with water quality mandates and protection of listed species.
 
Q. How has the Department improved security of the Project since the September 11th tragedy in New York?

A. In addition to the measures mentioned above for the California Aqueduct system. The Department has taken a number of security measures to ensure the safety of the SWP system. Tours of the State Water Project facilities have been limited to the Visitor Centers and non-critical facilities such as the Delta Fish Facilities, Oroville Fish Hatchery and Administration Building Overlooks. All of the SWP recreational reservoirs are open to the public however, boats are not allowed within 500 feet of the dam or any associated structure. Signs have been posted at each recreational reservoir warning the public of the zones not accessible to them.
 
SWP operations are monitored more closely now, and staff exercise vigilance in maintaining a secure environment. Security patrols are more frequent and planning is in-place to address potential or actual acts of terrorism. Improvements to existing security systems are ongoing and done in conjunction with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and other federal and State agencies
 
Q. How is the federal Central Valley Project related to the SWP?

A. The CVP is owned and operated by the federal government¢wthe U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The CVP was initially proposed by the Legislature as a state water system in the early 1930s. However the state could not sell the bonds needed for construction because of the Depression. Instead the federal government took it over as a public works project to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

The CVP's storage capacity at about 11 million acre-feet is larger than the SWP at about 5.8 million acre-feet. With its own system of pumping and power plants, aqueducts and reservoirs, the CVP delivers water mainly to agricultural sectors; while the SWP conveys primarily to urban areas. Both water projects transport water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
 
Q. Is the Department responsible for my home delivery of water?

A. No. DWR is similar to a wholesaler who sells and delivers water to a retailer who in turn sells and delivers water to residents in its community. SWP water deliveries are made primarily to its 29 contracting agencies. Some of these larger agencies, such as the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, sell and deliver water to other public agencies that are responsible to their individual counties/cities. Find out who your local water agency is by looking at your bill.
 
Q. How is DWR different from the State Water Resources Control Board?

A. The SWRCB is a regulatory agency, which means it has powers to mandate specific actions regarding water rights and water quality. Its Board presides over such hearings as water quality in the Delta and has several boards that regulate water quality and water rights issues within their specific jurisdictions.
 
DWR has no regulatory powers and defers to SWRCB over water rights and quality issues. DWR's primary responsibilities concern water development and planning.
 
Q. What other state and federal agencies are involved in water?

A. The California Health Services regulates drinking water quality standards and determines the levels at which potential toxins can be present in drinking water. The California Department of Fish and Game is charged with protecting conserving native fish, plants and wildlife. Their staff must also be consulted whenever an environmental impact study is required for a construction project and when changes are made in flow releases.
 
Federal agencies include the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that operates and maintains the Central Valley Project facilities; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that enforces the U.S. Endangered Species Act; the National Marine Fisheries Service that protects endangered chinook and steelhead salmon in the Mokelumne River and other Central Valley waterways; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that enforces federal laws that protect air, water, and land.

DWR, in operating the SWP, works with all of these agencies not only in terms of enforcing regulations but also in conducting cooperative environmental studies to protect affected species and mitigate for operational impacts.
 
Q. What kinds of responsibilities do DWR staff have?

A. It takes many kinds of expertise to keep the SWP and other DWR programs running smoothly. On the technical side are engineers, construction inspectors, chemists, computer programmers, control systems technicians, heavy equipment mechanics, and information technology and telecommunication specialists. To help maintain such major SWP facilities as pumping and power plants, canals, and reservoirs, DWR created an apprenticeship program to train qualified individuals as hydroelectric mechanics and electricians, and utility craftsworkers. DWR also needs administrative staff such as for human resources, accounting, property and equipment management, mail control, purchasing, and support services. Other employees' expertise range from photography, graphic design, and film/video to public/media information and education specialists to printing and training.

Q. Where can I locate more information on the SWP and DWR?

A. You can obtain print publications from DWR’s Office of Water Education by calling 1-800-272-8869 or by writing to the office at P.O. Box 942836, Room 1104-1 Sacramento, CA 94236-0001.
 
If you have a question about DWR or the State Water Project, e-mail joyce@water.ca.gov or call 1-800-272-8869 for free publications.