History

Provident Irrigation District (PID) was formed on April 27, 1918. A small part of the land in what is now PID was once within the old Central Irrigation District. In 1931, when PID was reorganized and refinanced, certain lands were excluded. Some of the lands that were excluded were later organized into the Willow Creek Mutual Water Company. In 1964, PID and Reclamation entered into a negotiated agreement quantifying the amount of water PID could divert from the Sacramento River. The negotiated agreement recognized PID’s annual entitlement to a Base Supply of 49,730 ac-ft/yr from the Sacramento River and also provided for a 5,000 ac-ft allocation of Project Supply, resulting in a total contract entitlement for 54,730 ac-ft/yr. The Settlement Contract negotiated in 1964 remained in effect until March 2006. PID then signed a new 40-year contract with 49,730 acre feet of base supply and 5,000 acre feet of Project water supply.

Service Area and District System

PID lies to the west of the Sacramento River in the Colusa Basin in the Counties of Glenn and Colusa, approximately 7 miles east of the City of Willows. The District encompasses approximately 15,965 acres (including 800 acres recently annexed into the District) and serves 120 landowners. Rice is the predominant crop accounting for approximately 98 percent of irrigated acreage in the District. Many of PID’s operations are coordinated with the PCGID, located directly adjacent and east of the District.