The decades-long political struggle over fixing the bottleneck in California’s immense north-south water system is nearing a climax—and it’s not looking good for Gov. Jerry Brown’s long-sought solution. The State Water Project, initiated nearly 60 years ago by Brown’s late father, Pat, impounds Feather River water behind Oroville Dam and sends it southward down the Feather and Sacramento rivers into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Huge pumps at the south edge of the Delta suck water into the California Aqueduct, which transports it as far south as San Diego.