California's water wars reach 'new level of crazy' this year

Good piece by Mark Grossi in the Fresno Bee about this year's version of the "crazy" California Water Wars, which will only escalate as we exit the (not very) rainy season. A lot of these same issues are covered in the Delta Blues documentary - they just keep rolling through every few years. This year's historic drought is likely to make everything worse for fish and farmers, and the impact will be felt for years.

KQED Forum Program on the Delta

Delta Blues DVD

Here's the link for today's program on KQED, which focused on the release of the Brown Administration's environmental plan for the Delta:

It's hard to believe, but I started this blog six years ago, at the beginning of the production of Delta Blues. The documentary was completed and went out on the film festival circuit in 2011, but I've always regretted not staying with it longer and making it a more complete film.

Time and money ran out,  but this story, as today's Forum broadcast shows, is far from over.

Tunneling under California's Bay Delta water wars

High Country News looks at the latest on the Delta with Jerry Brown's "I want to get shit done" press conference in July where he announced that he wanted not just one, but two tunnels under the Delta to transfer water downstate. Will it solve the problem of delivering enough water to farms and cities south of the Delta without destroying the fish population? It remains to be seen, and expect many more years of debate, lawsuits and rancor in California's most persistent water war.

Huge bond plan to revamp state water system

This piece in the SF Chronicle rolls out the effort by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Dianne Feinstein for a bipartisan plan to solve the state's water woes. It seems to have a taste for everyone on all sides of the storage, irrigation and environmental issues, but at $9 billion is it realistic?

Farmers vs. Fish Amid the California Drought

Here's an article in Time Magazine about Farmers vs. Fish in the Delta and in California's central valley. There's good reporting in it, and it highlights the difficulties the agricultural interests are having this year, with the double whammy of reduced water allocations and the drought in California.

More on this in the documentary.

California's water war heating up

Excellent column in the Sacramento Bee by political reporter Dan Walters. Lays out the political template of the story with some amusing anecdotes from past water wars thrown in.