The Sacramento Delta: A Gordian Knot - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 215

reasoning. Most often, flood-irrigation is the only avenue to irrigate these crops. In ad-
dition to providing water for the plant to grow, the water also seeps into the under-
ground and provides a recharge to the groundwater.” Pointing to the suggestion that
farmers switch from field crops to vegetable crops, Wade added, showed a lack of under-
standing of how the market works. “If we follow the Institute's suggestion, then grocery
stores would be glutted with more vegetables than anyone would want to buy. Prices
would collapse, and the crops would be wasted…. You can't just wave a magic wand.
here are consequences.”
At the northern end of Millerton Lake, we inspected one of the canyons where Temper-
ance Flat Dam could be built. The lake and its surroundings are gorgeous. With dramat-
ic beige hills rising around the sun-spangling lake, this is prime vacation country. Some
of the older homes were modest, but the newer houses were large and expensive-look-
ing. Yet something was vaguely wrong with the postcardlike view. As we drove along a
winding road called Sky Harbor Drive, high above the lake, nearly every house had a
FOR SALE sign in the driveway.
“What's going on here?” I asked.
“Well, if yousuddenly discovered that your vacation getaway was about to be turned
into a horrible construction site for the next ten years while they built a seven-hundred-
foot-tall dam in your face, you'd probably try to sell, too!” Gleick muttered.
It was bright at noon, and the heat was rising. We drove up and over the ridge, passed
a few remote ranches, and eventually nosed the Prius down a hairpin road to a tributary
of the San Joaquin. It was stultifyingly hot down there, especially on the river's edge,
where wide water-sculpted rocks radiated solar energy next to a venerable pumping sta-
tion. Gleick and I glanced around, then stripped off our clothes and plunged into the
stream. It was so clear and cool that it refreshed me down to my bones. If the new dam
is built, this entire valley will be submerged.
Farmers, environmentalists, politicians, engineers, water managers, and citizens are in
broad agreement that the Sacramento Delta system is broken, but almost no agreement
exists on how to fix it. In 2008 Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency,
convened experts into a Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force , and provided millions
of dollars' worth of state funding for levee repair. But at least 220 government agencies
have jurisdiction in the Delta; its massive technical problems are further complicated by
politics and years of enmity between constituents. Washington has dithered, local politi-
cians have bickered, cities and farmers have demanded more water, and environmental