Where Does My Water Come From? - Official Website

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1. Our Promise
2. Where does my water come from?
3. Fields of Service
   1. Agricultural Irrigation & Drainage
   2. Domestic Water
   3. Groundwater Replenishment & Imported Water
   4. Recycled / Nonpotable Water
      1. Recycled Water for Agricultural Irrigation
      2. Nonpotable Water for Golf Course Irrigation
   5. Stormwater Protection & Flood Control
      1. Flood Maps for eastern Coachella Valley
   6. Wastewater Treatment
   7. Water Conservation
4. Strategic Plan
5. Redistricting

1. Home
2. About Us
3. About CVWD
4. Where does my water come from?

Where does my water come from?

The Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) relies on four sources of water to provide service to its customers: groundwater, recycled water, imported water from the State Water Project and the Colorado River via the Coachella Canal, a branch of the All-American Canal.

Local Sources of Water

All drinking or domestic water CVWD provides comes from the groundwater basin, usually called the aquifer. The Coachella Valley’s groundwater basin can be imagined as a tilted bathtub filled with sand and gravel and topped with a layer of clay; water fills the spaces under the clay and in between the sand and gravel. Wells approximately 1,300 feet deep reach the highest-quality water within the aquifer. Pumps push the water up to one of 68 distribution reservoirs. Water is then delivered to customers via 2,052 miles of distribution piping.

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CVWD provides drinking water to approximately 270,000 residents of the Coachella Valley. View CVWD's service area map.

Other water providers outside CVWD's service area include Desert Water Agency, Mission Springs Water District, City of Coachella, Indio Water Authority, and Myoma Dunes Water Company. Nevertheless, nearly all drinking water in the Coachella Valley is pumped from the groundwater basin.A crucial component of effective water management is developing alternatives to groundwater for nonpotable uses such as outdoor irrigation. For this reason, the CVWD works closely with local golf course superintendents, landscape professionals, large property owners, and HOAs to maximize their water efficiency. More than a dozen golf courses, homeowner associations, and a local school irrigate with recycled/nonpotable water.

Imported Sources of Water

Water for agricultural irrigation is primarily supplied from the Colorado River. It is delivered to more than 1,200 local farms via the 123-mile Coachella Canal. A quarter to a third of farm irrigation water is groundwater, pumped from privately owned wells.

In addition to local farms, 36 golf courses within the Coachella Valley Water District use imported water from the Coachella Canal to reduce their groundwater use.

CVWD also uses imported Colorado River water and State Water Project water exchanged for Colorado River water to replenish the aquifer at four sites throughout the Coachella Valley. Imported water supplements natural groundwater recharge from rainfall and snowmelt.

Since 1973, more than 5.1 million acre-feet of imported water have been replenished into the aquifer at four facilities. Previously, CVWD relied on rainfall and snowmelt from nearby mountains to naturally replenish the aquifer.

History

Before the Coachella Canal's completion in 1948, the Coachella Valley lacked access to imported water. The first water deliveries took place in 1949.

In the 1960s, CVWD and Desert Water Agency became State Water Project contractors. Together, the two agencies use their entitlement to the State Water Project to replenish the western Coachella Valley’s aquifer in the Whitewater area, the valley’s largest groundwater recharge facility. The combined entitlement is the third largest among state water project contractors.

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