The San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority was established in January of 1992 and consists of member agencies that provide water service to approximately 1,200,000 acres of irrigated agriculture, 2 million people, and 130,000 acres of wetlands within the western San Joaquin Valley, San Benito and Santa Clara counties.One of the primary purposes of establishing the Authority was to assume the operation and maintenance (O&M) responsibilities of certain United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Central Valley Project facilities, and do so at an optimum level and at a lower cost than the USBR.The Authority serves the information and representation needs of our members by developing, providing and disseminating information to legislative, administrative and judicial bodies concerning a variety of issues such as: Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta exports, water supply, water quality, water development, conservation, distribution, drainage, contractual rights, surface and groundwater management, and any other common interest of the member agencies. The governing body of the Authority consists of a 19-member Board of Directors classified into five divisions with directors selected from within each division. Each Director, and respective Alternate Director, is a member of the governing body or an appointed staff member of his or her agency.The Delta-Mendota Canal delivers approximately 3,000,000-acre feet of water within the Authority service area. Of this amount, 2,500,000-acre feet are delivered to highly productive agricultural lands, 150,000 to 200,000-acre feet for municipal and industrial uses, and between 250,000 to 300,000 acre-feet are delivered to wildlife refuges for habitat enhancement and restoration.The Authority, with its current staffing of 103 employees, continues to provide the leadership necessary to pursue additional reliable water supply for its Member Districts and deliver the water with a reliable system in a cost efficient manner.