Where your water comes from

As a member agency of The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), the state’s largest water supplier, Western receives most of its water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta by way of the California State Water Project (SWP). The SWP is a water storage and delivery system of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants extending more than 700 miles, transporting your water from northern California to its final destination here in southern California entering the Western distribution system where it is closely monitored until it reaches your tap.

Western's water imported from the Colorado River travels more than 200 miles across the arid desert through open aqueducts and pipelines built by MWD in the 1930s.

Western has a groundwater supply in its Murrieta service area, which is combined with imported water for the region’s residents. Western also has rights to groundwater in the Bunker Hill Basin in the San Bernardino valley. Water from the basin is transported into our Riverside service area as part of an agreement with the City of Riverside/Riverside Public Utilities.

From source to tap

Follow the extraordinary journey your water must take before you use it, from sources high in the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, through critical purification processes, to homes and businesses across Southern California. Take a virtual tour and see precisely how water flows into western Riverside County for availability at the turn of a tap for you. Choose an adventure below: