Californians are shocked at news that the State Water Project for the first time will not be able to deliver water to 25 million people and one million acres of farmland that it usually services.  This, because of what is believed to be the worst drought in California history.

The evidence is all over the state.  The California Water Project is a miracle of mid-20th Century engineering, taking water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system the runs down the center of the state, storing it in reservoirs, and moving it around in a series of concrete canals. 

But the reservoirs are much lower than they should be:  The water line on Shasta Lake in the north part of the state is 30 meters down from where it should be; multi-million dollar waterfront homes on Folsom Lake over the state capital Sacramento are now hundreds of meters from the nearest water; bridges span dry creeks and riverbeds.  There’s no snow at the Lake Tahoe ski resort.  The soil is dry and parched and there are growing fears of wildfires on hillsides covered in yellow, dried grass in what is supposed to be the green and leafy tail end of the rainy season.

For farmers, it’s the prelude to disaster.  33 percent of the jobs in the great Central Valley are in agriculture, vegetables, grains, nuts, vineyards.  And then there are the businesses that depend on agricultural workers spending money.