What is the Central Basin Municipal Water District?
The Central Basin Municipal Water District is a public agency that purchases imported water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD).Central Basin wholesales the imported water to cities, mutual water companies, investor-owned utilities and private companies in southeast Los Angeles County. (Imported water is transported through the expansive Colorado River Aqueduct system and from Northern California.) Central Basin also supplies water used for groundwater replenishment and provides the region with recycled water for municipal, commercial and industrial use.
There are 24 cities in Central Basin’s service area.

Year of Establishment
Central Basin was established in 1952 by a vote of the people to help mitigate the overpumping of underground water resources in southeast Los Angeles County. District founders realized they would have to curtail the use of relatively inexpensive yet diminishing local groundwater by providing the region with imported water. In 1954, Central Basin became a member agency of MWD, an agency which provides the region with imported water. The five Central Basin Directors appoint two representatives to the 37-member MWD Board of Directors; Central Basin is one of the largest member agencies of the MWD. Today, in addition to imported water and groundwater, Central Basin provides recycled water for irrigation, commercial applications and industrial processes.

Area of Service
Central Basin’s service area uses approximately 315,000 acre-feet of water annually. An acre-foot of water is approximately 326,000 gallons, enough to meet the water needs of two average families in and around their homes for one year.