![]() State regulatory agencies and political bodies, buying into the arguments propounded by these politically-connected interests, have not only failed to address the problem but are exasperating it.īut California’s natural resources are afforded some protection, as the environmental impacts of all significant state actions must be considered, and to the extent feasible, mitigated and/or avoided. The result is the development of a water delivery regime that increasingly focuses on satisfying the needs and desires of a select group of agribusiness interests, investors, and real estate speculators at the expense of smaller farms, communities, the environment, and the public trust. Powerful agribusiness interests dominate this conversation and have been using the urgency of the drought to solidify their control over water in California. Although the drought has pushed water systems to their limit and has caused extreme harm to communities, fragile ecosystems and endangered species, it has also fueled a long-needed conversation about the state’s water use priorities. The scale of the problem and the stakes at risk beg for solutions, but most energy is focused on making the overuse of water more “efficient,” through technology and the marketplace, instead of reducing the unsustainable and inequitable use of water in the first place.Ĭalifornia’s recent drought has exposed deep problems with the state’s water infrastructure and sharpened conflicts over the state’s limited water supply, particularly between agriculture, ecosystems, and communities. ![]() ![]() This combination has resulted in a misguided and unsustainable attempt to overcome the region’s natural and relatively predictable freshwater scarcity, resulting in tremendous damage to aquatic ecosystems. California is home to many of the largest industrial agricultural operations in the country, along with some of the largest state and federal water projects in the country.
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