Since the early California Gold Rush days, the Groveland area was a center of gold mining activity. From its beginnings, however, the area has not had sufficient water to support these activities. Over the years, many schemes to bring water to Groveland and Big Oak Flat have been tried with varying and usually limited success. On August 19, 1953, the Groveland Community Services District was formed to bring much-needed utility services to the Groveland and Big Oak Flat areas. At first, the District tried to meet its growing water needs by tapping into groundwater that flooded mine shafts and tunnels that laid beneath the town, however this water was of generally poor quality and had an abundance of iron and manganese. In 1964 the District secured the rights to pump water from the Mountain Tunnel of the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct.

Big Creek Shaft and Second Garrotte tap the underlying Hetch Hetch Mountain Tunnel as the source of water for the GCSD service area. Both facilities treat water from the Hetch Hetchy Mountain Tunnel with combined storage of 4 million gallons. The water is then transmitted to the water distribution systems. Big Creek Water Treatment Facility (WTF) primarily serves Pine Mountain Lake, while Second Garrotte WTF serves Groveland and Big Oak Flat, with the distribution systems capable of interconnecting.

The distribution system serves about 3,000 customers and contains 11 pressure zones, 17 pressure reducing facilities, 9 pressure relief valves, 3 intra-zone booster pumping stations, 425 fire hydrants, 5 storage tanks, and 70 miles of water transmission line.