The California Water Wars: Not a Conflict Between Fish and People

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Yet agribusiness and other interests would like it framed that way.
How many times have you heard this issue presented as us versus a little fish?

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The California Water Wars: Not a Conflict Between Fish and People
Friday 06 March 2009
by: Dan Bacher, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Department of Water Resources and corporate agribusiness have continually tried to frame the battle over restoring the California Delta and Central Valley rivers as one of "fish versus people."

This false dichotomy was exemplified by an article published in the Sacramento Bee, "Delta Cutbacks Put Valley Farm Town on Edge," by Susan Ferris on Monday, March 2.

The reporter interviewed people in the agricultural industry in Mendota on the San Joaquin Valley's west side, discussing their fears over unemployment due to cuts in irrigation water deliveries from the Delta that are being blamed on court-ordered reductions in water exports to save salmon and Delta smelt. These fears are real, due to poor planning by the state and federal governments, which drained Shasta, Oroville and Folsom reservoirs to record low levels over the past two below-normal water years rather than conserving water as they should have.

"They're worrying about the fish but not about the humans' life," said Jose Ruiz, 42, a foreman at a vegetable firm in Mendota, as quoted by Ferris.

Unfortunately, this characterization of the battle to save the Delta as one of "people versus fish" couldn't be further from the truth. Because of massive exports of water to the Westlands Water District and Kern County and the governor's plan to build a peripheral canal to divert even more water, thousands of jobs are threatened as they never have been before!

CONTINUED:

Dan Bacher is a local activist and an editor of The Fish Sniffer, "The No. 1 newspaper in the world dedicated entirely to fishermen."

http://www.truthout.org/030609EA

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have for a longtime been aware of the fact that the aqueduct has caused salinization further up the delta making it harder and harder to fish.