The117-mile long Delta-Mendota Canal in central California delivers water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the San Joaquin Valley. It is part of the Central Valley Project.

Completed in 1951, the canal begins at the C.W. Bill Jones Pumping Plant near Tracy and follows the Coast Range south, providing irrigation water to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley along its route and terminating at Mendota Pool. Primary crops in the Delta-Mendota service area are melons, grapes, vegetables and deciduous nuts.

The Mendota Pool, located at the confluence of the San Joaquin River and the north fork of the Kings River, is a historic diversion point for irrigation water and an important part of restoration of recirculation flows for the San Joaquin. An old concrete dam built in 1919 causes the river to back up, creating the forebay. Here the Delta-Mendota Canal’s remaining water is released to replace San Joaquin flows for downstream growers that have been diverted by the Madera and Friant-Kern canals.