Coachella Valley Water District

To meet the water-related needs of the people through dedicated employees, providing high-quality water at a reasonable cost.

Location

Coachella Valley Water District, or CVWD, is located primarily in Riverside County, but also includes portions of Imperial County and San Diego County. It includes seven cities, five Tribes and 110,000 domestic water services.

Key Agency Facts

Coachella Valley Water District is a multi-faceted, water-related agency with seven different services, ranging from irrigation and drinking water, wastewater collections and recycling, stormwater protection, groundwater basin replenishment and irrigation drainage. Of the seven services, groundwater replenishment is the primary reason CVWD is investing in the Sites Reservoir Project. With an average annual rainfall of only three inches, CVWD relies on imported water, even though groundwater replenishment has been an active priority since the 1970s. Agriculture is the second largest regional contributor, and of the nearly 65,000 acres of agricultural land in the service area, more than two-thirds is served by Colorado River water and one-third is served by groundwater. In 2019 alone, the crop value in the Coachella Valley was $596 million.

Service Area Details

Coachella Valley Water District is governed by an elected five-member board, and the service area includes 1,000 square miles, including 300,000 people, 7,000 businesses, 64,340 acres of agricultural land and 100 golf courses.

How long has CVWD been an investor in Sites Reservoir?

CVWD joined the Sites Reservoir Committee in 2017 and is proud to be one of the original south-of-Delta investors.

Why did CVWD decide to invest in Sites Reservoir?

Imported water is critical for everything CVWD does, and water is the unsung hero for the Coachella Valley. As the Coachella Valley continues to grow, conservation can only go so far. With declines in the reliability of imported water supplies, Sites Reservoir is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure and replace water lost to regulatory drought.

What makes CVWD unique?

Coachella Valley Water District is one of only two Sites Reservoir Project participants that is both a state and federal water contractor. Access to multiple water sources allows for unique collaboration, so the concept of Sites as an investor-owned facility and a way to secure a water future for the valley is familiar to CVWD. In addition to collaboration, CVWD’s philosophy of environmental stewardship has been important for groundwater basin protection and replenishment for decades – long before the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

For more information

Learn more about Coachella Valley Water District at cvwd.org.