Department of Water Resources (DWR)

The California Department of Water Resources (CDWR), established in 1956 by the California Legislature, plays an important role in sustaining California's economy, environment and quality of life. Its mission is to sustainably manage the water resources of California, in cooperation with other agencies, to benefit the state's people and protect, restore, and enhance the natural and human environments.

CDWR also owns, operates and maintains the California State Water Project (SWP), a 400-mile water conveyance feature which provides drinking water to municipalities and irrigation water to farmers throughout the state.

It is the policy of the CDWR to become a sustainability leader and ecosystem steward within State government and the California water community by promoting and facilitating sustainability practices throughout its business operations including the operations and maintenance of the SWP.

For example, CDWR has been very active in its energy conservation efforts and with implementing renewable energy resources to displace brown grid energy usage throughout CDWR-owned facilities and in 2015, CDWR’s constructed a new, Platinum LEED administration building for its SWP’s Southern Field Division.

As further example of CDWR’s commitment to conservation and sustainability practices, CDWR participates in local utility programs such as SMUD’s Commercial Greenergy Program as well as its Commercial Carbon Offset Program. Similar programs with other investor owned utilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and Southern California Edison (SCE) have helped fund energy efficiency and lighting upgrade programs to reduce total building energy consumption.

While these sustainability and conservation efforts are reducing CDWR’s brown grid retail energy usage in general, its reliance on such has increased in recent years due to unplanned an ongoing emergency repair work at one of CDWR’s Field Divisions.

This ongoing emergency repair work has added an average of 90,000 kWh per month to DWR’s retail energy usage.

DWR expects to complete the emergency repair work by Summer 2020, at which time retail energy use will return to normal levels.