Along the western edge of the United States, down near the San Francisco Bay, trouble is brewing. Trouble in the form of a fish. Water is essential to life — there’s no two ways about it — and California is thirsty. In the San Joaquin Valley, dust fills the air, vineyards and orchards have become withered, lawns desiccated. There’s barely enough water to drink much less waste on decorative vegetation.
Meanwhile, to the southwest, lies the San Francisco Bay, home to many a king salmon. Salmon fisheries are an important part of the local economy, employing tens of thousands of people from California to Oregon. But, what do fish need a lot of? Water. Water that some say would be better served being used by others in more dire straits. Farmers are trying to force legislative changes that would divert water away from the salmon breeding areas and into to their orchards.
The fisheries cry foul, saying the farmers are trying to take water they have no right to in order to grow their crops – and their profits. A change in the water distribution could, literally, leave the salmon high and dry. But how do you choose one industry over another? For one, the salmon fisheries have long-standing legal water rights on their side. They see it as the farmers trying to change the rules in the middle of the game.
The farmers, on the other hand, claim the water used by the fisheries is being wasted. They want the natural flows of water that come down from Washington and Oregon into California to be diverted away from the coast into the desperately dry areas where it can be used for irrigation.
Both industries have a valid argument when it comes to providing jobs and food. But, what of the residents of the Valley who have been forced out of their homes because wells have run dry? Abandoned homes multiply overnight as the air grows more arid. Lower income families have no choice but to leave in search of, literally, greener pastures. While reservoirs in more posh parts of the state remain full, the poorer folk can’t spare a drop to wash their dishes.
It’s ecology versus economy, human versus animal. As the Golden State grew, areas that were once desert were replaced with the rolling green of golf courses and high priced homes, each with their own swimming pool. Now the desert is trying to reclaim these areas and everyone seems surprised. Shortsightedness got California into this dust up of a crisis, long term solutions and sacrifces may be the only way to get out of it.
