California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is, in many ways, a useful arena in which to study the water struggles that may face the world in coming decades. The Delta and its water are subject to competing interests: while the ecosystem supports sensitive endemic species and an array of other ecologically- and commercially-important organisms, agricultural interests and water resource management agencies seek to utilize the system to mitigate California’s dry climate and promote economic growth. Shifting patterns of precipitation and climate change complicate the situation. The competition for water, exotic species invasion, widespread pesticide use, and increases in stormwater runoff has caused myriad ecological impacts, including the listing of the delta smelt as a federally-threatened species. The result has been a protracted and complicated legal battle, and pieces included in Friday's San Francisco Chronicle and Sacramento Bee suggest that despite a resolution reached in December 2008 to reduce water exports, the fight for water is not yet over.
On a slightly different, but related, note photographer Lukas Felzmann has examined California's inland waterways, wetlands, fields, and industrial agriculture landscapes from an interesting perspective. Check out a review of, and images from, the resulting book here and order it here. It is phenomenal.
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