The largest estuary on the West Coast of the Americas lies at California’s heart. It’s a place of constant change, affected by daily tides, sea-level rise, water diversions that serve 25 million residents and a growing population closing in around it. Yet most of those people have no idea the Delta is the subject of one of the largest habitat restoration projects ever proposed in the U.S. Known as Eco Restore, it is a companion to another proposal called California WaterFix, which calls for reforming water diversions by building two giant tunnels.

After years of working on water, environment and agriculture issues in California, it remains a mystery to me why the appointed State Water Resources Control Board and several other environmental boards and commissions so often don’t understand the pushback from ordinary Californians on their regulatory agenda. The latest example is occurring during the public comment period on the plan to vastly increase unimpaired water flows from eastern and southern tributaries into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The $10 billion Congressional water bill approved in December which transfers federal control of some water supplies in California to water authorities at the state level and provides funds for some badly needed structures is being applauded by farmers both north and south. President Obama signed the bill Dec. 16. Sweeping victories by Republicans in the November elections which gave them majorities in the U.S. House and Senate as well as the presidency have brought dramatic changes in the ways California’s water resources – much of them stored or conveyed in federally financed structures – will be allocated.