<P> The SWP collects water from rivers in Northern California and redistributes it to the water - scarce but populous south through a network of aqueducts, pumping stations and power plants . About 70% of the water provided by the project is used for urban areas and industry in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, and 30% is used for irrigation in the Central Valley . To reach Southern California, the water must be pumped 2,882 feet (878 m) over the Tehachapi Mountains, with 1,926 feet (587 m) at the Edmonston Pumping Plant alone, the highest single water lift in the world . The SWP shares many facilities with the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), which primarily serves agricultural users . Water can be interchanged between SWP and CVP canals as needed to meet peak requirements for project constituents . The SWP provides estimated annual benefits of $400 billion to California's economy . </P> <P> Since its inception in 1960, the SWP has required the construction of 21 dams and more than 700 miles (1,100 km) of canals, pipelines and tunnels, although these constitute only a fraction of the facilities originally proposed . As a result, the project has only delivered an average of 2.4 million acre feet (3.0 km) annually, as compared to total entitlements of 4.23 million acre feet (5.22 km). Environmental concerns caused by the dry - season removal of water from the Sacramento--San Joaquin River Delta, a sensitive estuary region, have often led to further reductions in water delivery . Work continues today to expand the SWP's water delivery capacity while finding solutions for the environmental impacts of water diversion . </P> <P> The original purpose of the project was to provide water for arid Southern California, whose local water resources and share of the Colorado River were insufficient to sustain the region's growth . The SWP was rooted in two proposals . The United Western Investigation of 1951, a study by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, assessed the feasibility of interbasin water transfers in the Western United States . In California, this plan contemplated the construction of dams on rivers draining to California's North Coast--the wild and undammed Klamath, Eel, Mad and Smith River systems--and tunnels to carry the impounded water to the Sacramento River system, where it could be diverted southwards . In the same year, State Engineer A.D. Edmonston proposed the Feather River Project, which proposed the damming of the Feather River, a tributary of the Sacramento River, for the same purpose . The Feather River was much more accessible than the North Coast rivers, but did not have nearly as much water . Under both of the plans, a series of canals and pumps would carry the water south through the Central Valley to the foot of the Tehachapi Mountains, where it would pass through the Tehachapi Tunnel to reach Southern California . </P> <P> Calls for a comprehensive statewide water management system (complementing the extensive, but primarily irrigation - based Central Valley Project) led to the creation of the California Department of Water Resources in 1956 . The following year, the preliminary studies were compiled into the extensive California Water Plan, or Bulletin No. 3 . The project was intended for "the control, protection, conservation, distribution, and utilization of the waters of California, to meet present and future needs for all beneficial uses and purposes in all areas of the state to the maximum feasible extent ." California governor Pat Brown would later say it was to "correct an accident of people and geography". </P>

Where does the ca. state water project begin
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