| There is no resource quite as valuable in California as water. It has been said in past history, "Whiskey is for drinkin' and water is for fightin' ". Indeed, water has been fought over profusely in California. In a land of little rain, crops and orchards flourish. In a state of modest precipitation, the population lives in the arid south, needing imported water from the north to survive. Ecosystems in California are as varied as the climate -- vernal pools and wetlands, delta islands and wild rivers, salmon fisheries and waterfowl marshes. In past history, water was used to destroy the land with hydraulic mining. Today, environmentalists and state agencies, farmers and cities, as well as the federal government are working together to save our ecosystems and farms, our wild and scenic rivers, our urban areas from flooding, and to find some way to share our most precious resource. |
