# CVP vs SWP: California's two big water projects, explained > The CVP is the federal Central Valley Project, run by the Bureau of Reclamation and serving mostly Central Valley agriculture and wildlife refuges. The SWP is the State Water Project, run by California DWR and serving mostly Southern California cities. They share the same Delta, which is why Delta conditions constrain both. _Updated Jul 9, 2026._ The Central Valley Project and the State Water Project are California's two great water-moving systems, and they are easy to confuse because they overlap physically. The short version: the CVP is federal and agricultural, the SWP is state and urban, and both pull water through the same Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. ## Who runs them and who they serve The CVP is operated by the US Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency, and it was built to water the Central Valley. Most of its supply goes to Valley agriculture, with major deliveries to wildlife refuges. The SWP is operated by the California Department of Water Resources, a state agency, and it leans urban. Its dominant customer is the Metropolitan Water District serving Southern California cities, with San Joaquin Valley farms taking a share. ## The shared Delta is the catch Both projects move water from the wetter north of the state to the drier south, and both do it by pulling supply through the Delta with big pumps near Tracy. That shared plumbing is the key constraint. When Delta conditions tighten, for fish protection, salinity or storm operations, both projects feel it at once, which is why a bad Delta year can pull both allocations down together. ## Side by side The two projects announce separately and on different calendars, so the live numbers rarely match. [Table: CVP South of Delta Agricultural allocation](https://the-waterline.com/allocation/cvp-south-of-delta-agricultural) ([data](https://the-waterline.com/allocation/cvp-south-of-delta-agricultural.md)) [Table: SWP Statewide allocation](https://the-waterline.com/allocation/swp-statewide-swp) ([data](https://the-waterline.com/allocation/swp-statewide-swp.md)) Above are a representative CVP class, south-of-Delta agricultural service, and the statewide SWP allocation, each current. A quick reference for the rest: - Operator: CVP is federal (Reclamation). SWP is state (DWR). - Core customers: CVP is Valley ag plus refuges. SWP is Southern California cities plus some ag. - First announcement: CVP around late February. SWP around December 1. - Contract basis: CVP is a percent of contract volume by class. SWP is a percent of Table A amounts. For the mechanics of each, see the CVP allocations guide and the SWP allocations guide. ## Related data + guides - [How CVP allocations work](https://the-waterline.com/guides/how-cvp-allocations-work) - [How SWP allocations work](https://the-waterline.com/guides/how-swp-allocations-work) - [Allocation tracker](https://the-waterline.com/allocation) --- Canonical URL: https://the-waterline.com/guides/cvp-vs-swp