About Us

Regular Office Hours

District staff will be available to assist Customers on the phone (varies depending on circumstances listen to the message) or in person during our office hours listed below.

  • Office Hours:  Monday - Thursday  8 am to 5 pm; Friday 8 am to 3:30/4:00 pm (SEASONAL).  
  • Main Number:  (530) 241-1085

A Brief History of the Bella Vista Water District (AKA Cow Creek Unity of the Central Valley Project)

The Bella Vista Water District also known as the Cow Creek Unit of the Central Valley Project, was created with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s expansion of the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) with the construction of the Trinity Division.  “Reclamation awarded contracts for the Cow Creek Main and Clear Creek South Main Aqueducts in 1964. Valley Engineers, Inc., the contractor, began construction on the Cow Creek Aqueduct January 14, 1965. Purtzer and Dutton received the contract for Wintu Pumping Plant in 1965, to supply Cow Creek Unit.  The contractor completed the pumping plant in 1966.  Reclamation dedicated it September 3, 1966.  The history of the Trinity Division and construction of the Cow Creek Unit in 1965 is documented by Eric A. Stene and available online at:  https://www.usbr.gov/projects/pdf.php?id=108

The District presently has a Water Service Contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that was converted to a Repayment Contract that provides for 24,578 acre-feet of water annually from the Central Valley Project, subject to shortage provisions.