Good article in the NY Times.
Especially interesting points:
- The economic loss of fallowed fields can be recovered in the long term. Not so for the fish. “If species go extinct, we have no way to get them back.”
- The water board has systematically sacrificed the needs of the fish in favor of keeping water flowing to farms.
- Some farmers who want exports to be increased, for example, have complained that water allowed to flow to the ocean is “wasted.” But an analysis of ocean outflow in 2014, the third year of the drought, found that 71 percent went to preserve water quality for drinking water and irrigation. Only 18 percent was specifically for fish habitat.
- But the farmers say they’ve got to have it, they run to the politicians and say they’ve got to have it.
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