Letters to the Editor: State must reform water rights system
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Visitors explore the shoreline of Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park, California, on Thurs. July 28, 2016. Mountain Tunnel, a key piece of the Hetch Hetchy water system is at risk of collapse, so this summer, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is preparing to repair the 19-mile-long tunnel just outside of Yosemite in a steep, hard-to-access wilderness area.Michael Macor/The Chronicle
People need fish and clean water, not carpools. It is time to reform our water rights system. Recent articles in this paper have discussed the drought and proposals for actions such as trucking hatchery salmon. Discussions of real solutions, such as reassessing water rights for large farms, which use 80% of the state’s water but export crops, are not discussed.