Digging Tunnels, Mining Votes: California Water Politics
A proposed tunnel with unknown environmental impacts indicative of the desperate state of affairs
Part four in the series ‘Reflections On Water’
John Wayne supposedly once quipped “Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting over.” Right now, in California, it is a statement that is difficult to disprove. Water in the West can make and break the careers of not just farmers and ranchers, but politicians as well.
Politics being largely a game of opportunism, it is not surprising that drought leads to increased spending on water infrastructure. And this in spite of the expensive and over-wrought storage and delivery systems currently in place.
In wet years, political forces respond to demands from agribusiness for guaranteed increases in water deliveries. In dry years, there’s some uncomfortable discussion between politicians and their fair weather allies. Short-sightedness has reigned. Long-term planning and the implementation of technology and policy to increase efficiency and smart conservation has been largely absent.
The current proposal, pushed by Governor Brown, to drill tunnels underneath the San Francisco Bay Delta is a perfect example of this.
Although the plan would potentially solve some issues involving water delivery south of the Delta, it is impossible to know the full environmental impact. Critics say the impact upon salmon and smelt stocks would be devastating. Worst of all, the tunnel plan does nothing to address the fundamental problem: increasing demands on a decreasing resource. Let’s hear politicians address a 20-year plan that solves the real problem.
This is an edited version of an article originally published at Weyland Photo.
Editors note: ‘Reflections On Water’ is a weekly series of thoughts and observations about water usage in drought-hit California. Part one was Wasting Water. Part two was California’s Fish Economy. Part three was War Of Ideals.
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