the disparity of costs to the project's various constituents has been a frequent source of controversy. although the overall average cost of swp water is $147 per acre-foot ($119 per 1,000 m), agricultural users pay far less than their urban counterparts for swp water. the kern county water agency (the second largest swp entitlement holder) pays around $45–50 per acre-foot ($36–41 per 1,000 m) of swp water, which is mostly used for irrigation. the metropolitan water district of southern california (the largest entitlement holder) pays $298 per acre-foot ($241 per 1,000 m). this basically means that cities are subsidizing the cost of farm water, even though the cities also provided primary funding for the construction of the swp.