From Small Beginnings to One of California’s Largest Water Agencies by ACWA Staff Sep 19, 2025 Newsletters EMWD employees and Board members take part in one of many events recognizing their district’s 75th anniversary. EMWD Celebrates 75 Years Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) celebrates 75 years of transformational growth in 2025 and has the history, photos and even a few original customers to tell its story. Starting as a small, largely agricultural provider, EMWD began operating in 1950 primarily to augment local supplies with Colorado River water conveyed by Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). It has since grown into California’s sixth largest retail water agency by service area — 682 square miles — populated by nearly one million people in western Riverside County and northern San Diego County. As early as 1953, EMWD’s hometown of Perris reaped the benefits of the district’s hard work when it was the first city to be served with water from the Colorado River, a complex feat that guided the shape and prosperity of the surrounding regional community. In addition to its retail operations, EMWD also supplies water on a wholesale basis to the cities of Hemet and San Jacinto, as well as Fallbrook Public Utility District, Lake Hemet Municipal Water District, Nuevo Water Company, Rancho California Water District, Rainbow Public Utilities District and Western Municipal Water District. EMWD’s early leaders were interested in seeing their community thrive and knew they needed to plan accordingly for the community they envisioned. For example, in 1962, EMWD leadership outlined a plan to take care of sanitation needs that stretched 25-30 years into the future. These founding leaders set the tone for how EMWD’s leadership thinks and acts today. While they understood the need to improve services and infrastructure, they did so using the newest technology and with an understanding that an investment today could help customers save money in the long run. Today EMWD manages a diverse water supply portfolio that spans local groundwater supplies, recycled water and desalination efforts, while it receives approximately half of its water supply from MWD through the Colorado River Aqueduct and State Water Project. Along the way, EMWD leaders actively participated in ACWA. Longtime EMWD Board member Randy Record served as ACWA President during the 2012-’13 term, and today ACWA Board of Directors member Jolene Walsh chairs ACWA’s Federal Affairs Committee. EMWD’s steady growth into one of California’s leading water providers in terms of size, as well as its diverse capabilities, provided a great opportunity to engage its community throughout the 2025 diamond anniversary. In April, the district hosted an open house at its Perris headquarters inviting customers to engage with staff while learning more about their water and wastewater systems. The family-oriented event featured food trucks and booths hosted by the UC Riverside Master Gardeners, Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District, Cal Fire, Mt. San Jacinto College and the Hemet Unified School District Career Technical Education program. EMWD also connected with customers through a photo contest and sought out residents who had relied on its water since its founding, asking them to share their stories through an online form. Among the responses, a woman who remembered her father building their home in Quail Valley, now part of the City of Menifee, in 1950. She later inherited the home and lives there today. “EMWD supplied the water then and still does today,” she wrote. The statement looks simple. The history that makes it possible is anything but. EMWD has thrived on its ability to adapt and look ahead despite dramatic changes between the time of its founding and the challenges of its present. “EMWD’s history is rich with examples of how hard work and strategic planning have ensured consistent delivery of water, wastewater and recycled water services,” said EMWD Board President Stephen J. Corona. “Our commitment to quality is driven by a vision to improve the health of our community, and our customers, both today and for future generations.”
