In the century-long “us-versus-them” mentality of California water, a plan released by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Department of Water Resources last week achieved something perhaps never accomplished before in the Golden State’s water industry. It incited universal scorn. First, as is always the case, some recent history on California’s water infrastructure. Much of California’s surface water – that is, water captured from rainfall, stored in dams and reservoirs, and transported via canals and aqueducts – is delivered via two massive projects: the Central Valley Project, operated by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, and the State Water Project, operated by the State of California’s Department of Water Resources.