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Fresno In The News – The Mendota March For Water.

I know the Tea Parties made the news cycle this week, but there was another protest that, in my eyes, was much more important, because unlike the Tea Parties, this one may have an effect and change policy concerning the ultimate goal of the march; to get more water to the Central and West San Joaquin Valley..

As covered in the New York Times, protesters trekked from Mendota to the San Luis Dam, a three day hike, in order to bring attention to the severe water shortage in the San Joaquin Valley. Many west valley farmers cannot plant this year Though there is a drought, that is not the principle cause of the shortage. This water shortage is the result of both overzealous environmental rules, pumps in the Sacramento delta that bring water to the valley have been shut down due to concerns over the endangered delta smelt fish, and also due to the lack of investment in California’s water storage capacity for the last forty years. I ranted on this topic earlier this year. The San Joaquin Valley, due to an inept state government, is in very real danger of becoming the new “dust bowl’ of the twenty first century.

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