The water war in California touches everything: fish and farmers, the Endangered Species Act, political fights between the parties and within both the Democratic party and the state’s rump of a Republican party. But there is one aspect of the problem about which there is broad agreement by everyone from Senator Dianne Feinstein to conservative farmers in the San Joaquin Valley: The state needs more and better water infrastructure.
Question: Why doesn't it have any?
As Senator Feinstein pointed out in a speech earlier this year, California has essentially the same major water infrastructure today as it did in the 1960s, when the state was home to approximately 16 million people instead of 40 million people — farmers, swimming-pool owners, golfers, lawn-waterers, guacamole-eaters, and other thirsty types. The State Water Project, California’s major water infrastructure, was launched in the 1950s and mostly finished up by the 1970s. Individual water districts have added some capacity over the years, but the major conveyance-and-storage system remains largely unchanged.
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