As you turn on the tap in your home or business, all the water you see started as snowmelt in the Sierra Mountains. Water is brought to our area through the California Aqueduct and travels more than 440 miles to reach your tap. 

Take a tour with Little Drop to see The Journey Your Water Takes

The water is purchased from Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), the Southland's regional water wholesaler. LVMWD must import 100% of our drinking water because there are no native supplies to draw from within our 122-square mile service area.

Each year, generally in the wintertime, LVMWD sets aside a portion of the water purchased from MWD as a reserve and stores it in our Las Virgenes Reservoir. Holding enough water to serve district customers for about six months, the reservoir provides water "insurance" for times of emergency. In addition, it provides flexibility to store water in the off-season when demand is lower. 

The water delivered to your home has been treated, filtered, disinfected, routinely sampled and tested, either at MWD's Joseph Jensen Treatment Plant or LVMWD's Westlake Filtration Plant.  

However, even before the journey to your tap begins, much effort goes into protecting water supplies at their source in Northern California and protecting it along the way. This has many benefits, including fewer contaminants in the water supply, better water quality, greater safety, and lower treatment costs. Thus, although far away, the fate of levees in the Bay Delta area is of great importance for our local water supply. This sensitive "crossroads" for water supplies significantly impacts the quality and reliability of our drinking water supply.

Read about the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and the impacts on California's water.

Read the Water Quality Report to learn more about the safety of your drinking water.

Read the 2022 Report on Water Quality Public Health Goals to learn about detections of any constituents in drinking water that exceed a Public Health Goal.

Huell Howser visits LVMWD - California Water Series Video