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Income Taxes Federal Statutory Rate Reconciliation (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Income before income taxes	$ 76,777us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesExtraordinaryItemsNoncontrollingInterest	$ 36,519us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesExtraordinaryItemsNoncontrollingInterest	$ 37,860us-gaap_IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesExtraordinaryItemsNoncontrollingInterest
Income Tax Statutory Rate Reconciliation [Abstract]
“Expected” federal income tax	26,872us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate	12,782us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate	13,251us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationIncomeTaxExpenseBenefitAtFederalStatutoryIncomeTaxRate
Increase (decrease) in taxes attributable to:
State taxes, net of federal income tax benefit	4,155us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationStateAndLocalIncomeTaxes	1,836us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationStateAndLocalIncomeTaxes	2,108us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationStateAndLocalIncomeTaxes
Dividend received deduction	(46)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationDeductionsDividends	(60)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationDeductionsDividends	(59)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationDeductionsDividends
Uncertain tax positions	0sjw_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationUncertainTaxPositions	(650)sjw_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationUncertainTaxPositions	82sjw_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateReconciliationUncertainTaxPositions
Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Tax Credit, Other, Amount	(880)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsOther	0us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsOther	0us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationTaxCreditsOther
Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Nondeductible Expense, Depreciation, Amount	(5,127)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationNondeductibleExpenseDepreciation	0us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationNondeductibleExpenseDepreciation	0us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationNondeductibleExpenseDepreciation
Other items, net	(3)us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherReconcilingItems	227us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherReconcilingItems	160us-gaap_IncomeTaxReconciliationOtherReconcilingItems
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)	$ 24,971us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	$ 14,135us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	$ 15,542us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit

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Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation, Uncertain Tax Positions

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This element represents the income or loss from continuing operations attributable to the economic entity which may also be defined as revenue less expenses from ongoing operations, after income or loss from equity method investments, but before income taxes, extraordinary items, and noncontrolling interest.

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Amount of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

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Amount of the difference between reported income tax expense (benefit) and expected income tax expense (benefit) computed by applying the domestic federal statutory income tax rates to pretax income (loss) from continuing operations attributable to deduction for dividend.

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