Water Contractors and Service Areas
Many water agencies in California deliver water, but they possess no, or only small, water rights. Many of them were created strictly to provide a governmental district for a region of California to connect to the federal Central Valley Project or the California State Water Project. Among the important governmental powers these districts had to have was the power to tax their constituents in order to pay the cost of receiving water in their area.
The Central Valley Project has over 100 water contractors up and down the Central Valley. The project serves a number of cities and towns along its canals. The map at left shows the extent of the Central Valley Project's service area in California as of 1998.
The State Water Project has had as many as 32 water contractors since it opened for business in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The clickable map at left shows the extent of the State Water Project's service area in California as of 1998.
See our State Water Project contracts page as well.