Where Does Your Water Come From?

Long Beach receives its potable (drinking) water supply from two sources. Ownership of water rights allows approximately half of the water supply needs to be produced from groundwater wells located within the City. Before it reaches our customers' taps, local groundwater must journey many miles from its source high up in the mountains. Rain and snow melt from the San Gabriel Mountains travels through washes and creeks into the San Gabriel River and the Whittier Narrows Basin. From there it percolates underground through sand and waterbeds where it begins a lengthy subsurface journey to Long Beach. High-powered pumps then extract it from 26 active groundwater wells and pump it to our groundwater treatment plant.

The other portion of the City's potable (drinking) water supply is treated surface water purchased from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). This water originates from two sources: the Colorado River, via the 242-mile Colorado River Aqueduct and Northern California's Bay-Delta region, via the 441-mile California Aqueduct.

 

The Colorado River Aqueduct provides a billion gallons of water a day to residents and businesses in Southern California's coastal plain. Water is taken in at Lake Havasu and carried to the reservoir facilities at Lake Mathews. Water originating from the Oroville Dam and Reservoir and the Sacramento River Delta is served via the State Water Project. This system is an intricate network of dams, pumping plants, reservoirs, hydroelectric plants, the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers that carry water to several Southern California reservoirs.