Further north and from the west side of the Sierra, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir captures water from the Tuolumne River where it is piped 167 miles as the primary water supply for over 3 million people in San Francisco and the Peninsula.
First, the LA Aqueduct delivers water over 400 miles from the East side of the Sierra – the Mono Lake area and Owens River – to the greater Los Angeles area. Built in 1905, this was the first major water project built in California and is still today one of three primary sources of water for the greater Los Angeles area – the other two being the Colorado River and the State Water Project (see below).
Finally, the Central Valley Project is a federally funded project primarily developed for agriculture but also important for municipal water supplies delivering water to over 1 million people. The centerpiece of the project is Shasta Reservoir built in 1945, capturing all the water coming from the springs around the greater Mt. Shasta area for storage and delivery downstream.
In the northern Sierra, the State Water Project starts with Oroville dam, the tallest dam in the country, which captures water from the massive Feather River watershed. Water is distributed through a network of 21 dams and over 700 miles of pipes and canals delivering water to 23 million people in Southern California and the Bay Area. To reach Southern California, the water must be pumped 2,882 feet over the Tehachapi Mountains, the highest single water lift in the world. It's the largest public works water system in the world.