A recent town hall meeting on the controversial WaterFix project,hosted in the heart of the Delta, gave those whose lives and livelihoods are most dependent upon the Delta a chance to make their voices heard – and they did not hold back. The meeting, attended by more than 200 people, was held in the Jean Harvey Community Center in Walnut Grove, and co-hosted by Assemblymember Jim Frazier and California State Senator Bill Dodd, who are members of the Delta Caucus.

California could be hit with significantly more dangerous and more frequent droughts in the near future as changes in weather patterns triggered by global warming block rainfall from reaching the state, according to new research led by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The latest study adds a worrying dimension to the challenge California is already facing in adapting to climate change, and shifts focus to melting polar ice that only recently has been discovered to have such a direct, potentially dramatic impact on the West Coast.

What happened to the rain? Less than a year after the drought was declared over, precipitation has been relatively scarce in the Sacramento area and Northern California so far this season. This week’s cold snap is accompanied by a round of dry weather that’s expected to last at least another 10 days. It’s too soon to panic about a prolonged dry spell, however.

Throughout California, access to water and how it is distributed is a perennial issue. Water conflicts are often nuanced and take on a life of their own. In some cases, a local conflict can have statewide implications — the City of Marina, a small city along the shores of Monterey Bay, finds itself in such a conflict. In 2009, the California State Water Resources Control Board ordered the private, for-profit California American Water Company to end its illegal water diversions from the Carmel River.