As severe wind, rain, flooding, and even tornadoes struck California last week, it’s clear to the world that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has some serious water woes. Major rain struck regions of California that were previously locked in a well publicized battle with water shortages. Wildfire during low-precipitation years cleared important plants from the hillsides around major urban centers of Los Angeles and other regions of the state, leaving the soil there in an extremely vulnerable position.

Then the rain arrived.

With two people dead, major mudslides, and public evacuations, it may seem that the water problems in California have finally peaked… but that isn’t the case. Many of the very factors exacerbating the water woes of California stem from their own errant environmental policies of the past, and the future for California is going to require strong water leadership if the State is going to embrace a sustainable future. The future of good water policy in California is under immense pressure from the varying interests who are currently battling it out over who should get access to water - for how much, and for how long.

Governor Schwarzenegger

Over the course of the past couple of years Governor Schwarzenegger has moved to help implement water regulation and restrictions on California farms and families. He’s made great progress in ensuring that California not only survives the water shortages of today, but also that they find a way to handle the water problems in a manner that is sustainable during both drought and flood years. As the Governor himself stated in a press conference discussing his new water policy, “It’s about time we rebuild our water system.” The decision to take on the challenge of effective and sustainable water management has been a tough one for the Governor, thrusting him into the center of political controversy.

Many people have stepped forward to challenge that water policy. Is he finally taking the high road to good water management, or is he just making a play “to push through a $11 billion bond measure?”

The Corporate Interest

Many critics, like Michael Fitzgerald, accuse the Governor of not only inflating his claims of water shortages and crisis in California… but of inflating those claims in an effort to hand over California’s water to special interest groups and mega businesses. He says that while the small family farms in turmoil are the public face of the tragic water shortages in California, that image has been carefully planted and cultivated on nightly news stories featured by CNN, 60 Minutes, and more.

Yet the private reality of California agriculture is that the majority of the industry is owned by corporate farms, who not only depend upon water subsidies, but who outright threaten to abandon California, and even the United States, altogether if they don’t get the amount of water they want at the price they are willing to pay.

“We can’t control Mother Nature but we can build a water system that allows us to flourish!” - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Does Gov. Schwarzenegger intend to have his canal and water systems built and controlled by major corporations… serving the interests of agricultural mega-giants like, the Woolf family of Southern California? They operate their businesses on government subsidy already… to the tune of about $4.2 million dollars of “taxpayer-subsidized water every year.” The claim is that the very existence of the canal would give the Woolf family and other corporate farmers “near total control of more than half of California’s water supplies.” This includes water feeding both cities and farms…

The Delta Smelt

One of the more controversial water-related decisions made by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is to restrict the water supply to major agricultural regions of California in an effort to save the Bay Delta Estuary, and the plethora of species that live there – including a tiny fish, the delta smelt. This “canary in the coal mine” of the rivers, has become the iconic image of the newly implemented California Water regulations.

Why does the delta smelt matter? It’s a good question.

“It’s an easy little fish to bully, after all.” - Alastair Bland

The delta smelt doesn’t sound fancy, sexy, or really important in any way… it’s the Ugly Betty of wetland conservation. Yet the smelt is key for two reasons:
- It’s a major food source for other larger and sexier species of fish like the coho salmon,
- It’s an indicator species. The very fact that humans don’t commercially or recreationally harvest the delta smelt positions it to be a keen indicator of the overall health of the Bay Delta Estuary, and of the larger healthy of U.S. estuaries in general.

Governor Schwarzenegger didn’t implement new water regulations for his state in a misguided attempt to save a “two-inch delta smith fish”… he did it to save everyone.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Where the Riled Things Are
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

As the heat turns up on California’s water problems, a tragic miscommunication is occurring between the fishing community and the public.

“Water is life’s most precious resource.” - Governor Schwarzenegger.

The Fishermen

One justification for subsidy and water controls is the protection of agricultural jobs. Jobs put money in the bank and food on the table; nobody would dare to argue against protecting jobs. When it comes to water, however, the decision of how we handle our water woes doesn’t only affect the agricultural industry. Another major industry affected by water regulations is commercial fishing.

“They’re trying to spin the story as a bunch of poor farmers losing their God-given irrigation rights because of fishermen.” - Zeke Grader, Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association

The fishing industry is struggling due to damaging water-use policies implemented all over the continental United States. Recent statements by Zeke Grader, the Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association, site statistics claiming that around 1,400 fishermen are currently out of work because the salmon fishery has crashed. The outcry from fishermen is often presented as environmentalist propaganda, but it is no such thing, it is the impassioned plea of an industry in peril. The commercial fishermen of the country have realized it’s time for good water policy; the question is… when will public opinion and government policy reflect that deeper understanding?

The war of the waters is truly raging in California, I haven’t even begun to mention potential problems with salt build up in the San Joaquin Valley. Those discussions will best be saved for another day. Where does all this water conflict leave us? With a call to action. You don’t have to live in California to care about what happens to the water there, when it comes to environmental health… you just have to be human.

The threat to the Sacramento Delta estuary isn’t limited to the waters and soils within that region. How we handle this crisis says a lot about how we’ll handle major environmental decisions of tomorrow. Will we work to protect the natural resources of our planet for our future, or will we continue to blindly consume them in the name of today?

Write to the White House, to Governor Schwarzenegger and to your local representatives, and urge them to protect local fish populations and waterways. Join local water conservation groups, and support legislation to protect our valuable ecosystems. Together we can work to keep the war of the waters from becoming a planetary crisis.