WATER SOURCES
The climate of Los Angeles is Mediterranean – this means we don’t get a whole lot of rain. We don’t have many natural sources of water, so we bring it in from hundreds of miles away. Water is transported along aqueducts -- concrete channels that rely on gravity to move water to where it’s needed.
Click to enlarge map
From the Sierra Nevada Mountains, to the gorges of the Colorado river, Los Angeles has historically obtained its source water from far and wide.
In Los Angeles, we get the majority of our water from the Eastern Sierra Nevada snowpack. When it melts, it flows into the Owens Valley and Mono Lake watersheds. The Los Angeles Aqueduct brings it to the LA Aqueduct Filtration Plant in Sylmar.
Sierra Nevada Snowpack
LADWP also obtains water by purchasing it from a water wholesaler known as the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). Our water travels over 400 miles from the Bay Delta in Northern California to the Los Angeles Aqueduct Filtration Plant.
The San Francisco Bay Delta Watershed
Groundwater
Groundwater is stored in the comes from a combination of many different wells and source aquifers. Groundwater, as all sources of freshwater, is a precious resource that must be carefully managed and conserved.
Prevention is the Solution to Pollution
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We fund numerous watershed protection projects. Our most recent project was the shade ball project in which hundreds of thousands of shade balls were released into reservoirs in our distribution system. These shade balls help prevent the formation of bromate in our finished water.
Protecting Our Water
THE LOS ANGELES AQUEDUCT
The Los Angeles Aqueduct collects water from snowmelt of the Eastern Sierra's. Most years, It supplies approximately 70% of the City of Los Angeles' water. It depends on the amount of snowpack in a given year. The water is treated at the Los Angeles Aqueduct Filtration Plant by state-of-the-art treatment processes.