A Raid on Delta Islands

If it’s not a water grab, it comes close. That’s one way to view a move by Southern California’s largest water district to buy a handful of Sacramento Delta islands that spell the future of state water policy.

Though it’s based hundreds of miles away, the Metropolitan Water District, which serves 19 million customers, is buying 20,000 acres of real estate in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, California’s prime plumbing fixture.