Oroville Dam Emergency Action Plan Missing

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 31 March 2017  FYI Patrick Porgans, pp@planetarysolutionaries.org
 

Had erosion upstream continued it could have compromised the Dam, Maurice  Roos, Hydrologist, California Department of Water Resources since 1957, CBS interview

Collapsed Flood Control Outlet and Emergency Spillway Erosion

Amidst all the chaos and rhetoric while Oroville Dam’s Flood Control Outlet collapse and the Emergency Spillway eroded massive amounts of earth and debris adjacent to the dam, “water officials” apparently provided law enforcement personnel with misleading assurance there was no threat to public safety or need to evacuate residents in the surrounding areas.

 

While water officials’ interim attempts to apply band aid fixes, news reporters failed from the onset to ask the quintessential question, where was the Department of Water Resources “Emergency Action Plan” for the Oroville Dam facilities. The Plan is required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the operation of the Oroville Facilities, which includes the Flood Control Outlet and Emergency Spillway.

Contact was made with FERC personnel, in Washington, D.C., to obtain a copy of the latest Emergency Action Plan filed by the Department for the State Water Project's Oroville facilities.

FERC's Office of External Affairs stated it is a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which could take 30 to 60 days or more to receive a response. Department officials already have a copy of this Plan.

 

Furthermore, FERC's attorneys would review the nature of the request, and discuss the release of the Emergency Action Plan with the Department to get its' input before considering release of the Plan. However, even if the Plan is released, the requester would have to sign a Non-Disclosure form stating the FOIA requested Plan is not to be shared with anyone, and there may be a fee. 

 

The FOIA Reform Act of 1986 provides that documents are to be furnished without charge or a reduction in established fees if disclosure is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute to public understanding of the operations or activities of the Government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.

 

Copies of the State required Department's annual dam inspections it conducts at the Oroville facilities, including the dam, gated flood control outlet, and the emergency spillway, were obtained by Planetary Solutionaries. The inspection report conducted in 2016 depicts cracks and bulges in the gated flood control outlet structure and movement of boulders and vegetation below the Emergency Spillway. (See photographs below.)

 

Department officials were reluctant to release the State required annual dam inspections of the Oroville Facilities. It required a personal visit to the Department’s Headquarters and Division of Dam Safety, which are located in two different places in Sacramento. The Division of Dam Safety was advised that the author was in route to get the inspection documents. Upon arrival, Division personnel stated that even though they are responsible for conducting the inspections, the reports were not on file at that office; ironically the documents were in the possession of the Public Information Office, located at Department Headquarter!

Ten minutes later, upon arrival at the Headquarters, the author explained to Department personnel, he was not leaving until they provided the dam inspection reports; which minutes before closing, they provided.

It is important to note that the Department is responsible for the inspections of an estimated 1200 dams throughout the Golden State; what does that say about dam safety!

A number of other abnormalities occurred during this calamitous and near catastrophic event; officials’ statements no danger to public safety followed by an instantaneous evacuation mandate. This evacuation reportedly uprooted an estimated 200,000 people from several surrounding counties; government websites that provide vital reservoir operation data went down; sensors for monitoring flood data were no longer available via the web, and so on.

The author made the effort to provide local newspaper and T.V. stations of these findings, but they opted not to use the information. #

Additional information on the conditions leading up to the flood water releases and the manner in which they were made will be continued in the second part of this three part series. 

Part II: Déjà vu-Dam it, Oroville flood structure failures is strike three, counting 1986-1997 flood disasters
Part III: Dam Operator Modus operandi Confidential Report behind reoccurring floods 

About the Author: Patrick Porgans, Forensic Accountant, Government Regulatory Specialist and Solutionist with Porgans/Associates. Porgans is also the founder of www.planetarysolutionaries.org a not for profit organization.

 

Since 1985, Porgans initiated a Reservoir Monitoring Program during the rainy season to ensure dam operators are compliant with federal flood control rules and regulations. He conducted a Fact-Finding Reports of every major flood disaster that occurred on the Feather and Yuba Rivers since 1986.

 

He has completed 79 Fact-Finding Reports on water-and water-related issues in California and throughout the West. He provided the chapter on the State Water Project, which was in Marc Reisner's book, Cadillac Desert.   http://patrickporgansblog.blogspot.com/  https://www.linkedin.com/patrickporgans  G+1
 

Where was the Federal Emergency Action Plan required for Oroville Dam Facilities

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 30 March 2017  FYI Patrick Porgans, pp@planetarysolutionaries.org
 

Had erosion upstream continued it could have compromised the Dam, Maurice Roos, Hydrologist, California Department of Water Resources since 1957, CBS interview

Collapsed Flood Control Outlet and Emergency Spillway Erosion

Amidst all the chaos and rhetoric while Oroville Dam’s Flood Control Outlet collapse and the Emergency Spillway eroded massive amounts of earth and debris adjacent to the dam, “water and law enforcement officials” apparently provided false assurance there was no threat to public safety or need to evacuate residents in the surrounding areas.

 

While water officials’ interim attempts to apply band aid fixes, news reporters failed from the onset to ask the quintessential question, where was the Department of Water Resources “Emergency Action Plan” for the Oroville Dam facilities. The Plan is required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the operation of the Oroville Facilities, which includes the Flood Control Outlet and Emergency Spillway.

Contact was made with FERC personnel, in Washington, D.C., to obtain a copy of the latest Emergency Action Plan filed by the Department for the State Water Project's Oroville facilities.

FERC's Office of External Affairs stated it is a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which could take 30 to 60 days or more to receive a response. Department officials already have a copy of this Plan.

 

Furthermore, FERC's attorneys would review the nature of the request, and discuss the release of the Emergency Action Plan with the Department to get its' input before considering release of the Plan. However, even if the Plan is released, the requester would have to sign a Non-Disclosure form stating the FOIA requested Plan is not to be shared with anyone, and there may be a fee. 

 

The FOIA Reform Act of 1986 provides that documents are to be furnished without charge or a reduction in established fees if disclosure is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute to public understanding of the operations or activities of the Government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.

 

Copies of the State required Department's annual dam inspections it conducts at the Oroville facilities, including the dam, gated flood control outlet, and the emergency spillway, were obtained by Planetary Solutionaries. The inspection report conducted in 2016 depicts cracks and bulges in the gated flood control outlet structure and movement of boulders and vegetation below the Emergency Spillway. (See photographs below.)

 

Department officials were reluctant to release the State required annual dam inspections of the Oroville Facilities. It required a personal visit to the Department’s Headquarters and Division of Dam Safety, which are located in two different places in Sacramento. The Division of Dam Safety was advised that the author was in route to get the inspection documents. Upon arrival, Division personnel stated that even though they are responsible for conducting the inspections, the reports were not on file at that office; ironically the documents were in the possession of the Public Information Office, located at Department Headquarter!

Ten minutes later, upon arrival at the Headquarters, the author explained to Department personnel, he was not leaving until they provided the dam inspection reports; which minutes before closing, they provided.

It is important to note that the Department is responsible for the inspections of an estimated 1200 dams throughout the Golden State; what does that say about dam safety!

A number of other abnormalities occurred during this calamitous and near catastrophic event; officials’ statements no danger to public safety followed by an instantaneous evacuation mandate. This evacuation reportedly uprooted an estimated 200,000 people from several surrounding counties; government websites that provide vital reservoir operation data went down; sensors for monitoring flood data were no longer available via the web, and so on.

The author made the effort to provide local newspaper and T.V. stations of these findings, but they opted not to use the information. #

Additional information on the conditions leading up to the flood water releases and the manner in which they were made will be continued in the second part of this three part series. 

Part II: Déjà vu-Dam it, Oroville flood structure failures is strike three, counting 1986-1997 flood disasters
Part III: Dam Operator Modus operandi Confidential Report behind reoccurring floods 

About the Author: Patrick Porgans, Forensic Accountant, Government Regulatory Specialist and Solutionist with Porgans/Associates. Porgans is also the founder of www.planetarysolutionaries.org a not for profit organization.

 

Since 1985, Porgans initiated a Reservoir Monitoring Program during the rainy season to ensure dam operators are compliant with federal flood control rules and regulations. He conducted a Fact-Finding Reports of every major flood disaster that occurred on the Feather and Yuba Rivers since 1986.

 

He has completed 79 Fact-Finding Reports on water-and water-related issues in California and throughout the West. He provided the chapter on the State Water Project, which was in Marc Reisner's book, Cadillac Desert.   http://patrickporgansblog.blogspot.com/  https://www.linkedin.com/patrickporgans  

 

"Darwinian De-Evolution" of the S.F. Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary

Policy consensus via the "coequal" stakeholder-team building collaborative processes.)

This photograph, paints a clear picture of the state of the Collaborators' failed decades in-the-making plan, branded as  the Delta Reform Act of 2009. The Act provided the enabling legislation to improve and protect the largest remaining Bay-Delta Estuary on the west  coast of the Americas.  Its formal rival, the Colorado River Delta that flowed into the Sea of Cortez, is essentially dead, which federal and state officials successfully destroyed.

The "Act" purportedly authorized a coequal partnership amongst government, water industry, agriculture, land-gentry billionaire, environmental and other nongovernment organization, building industry, financial institutions, and mainstream media, to improve and protect the largest remaining Bay-Delta Estuary on the west  coast of the Americas. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi/californias-co-equal-goals-delta

Porgans/Associates are currently conducting a Forensic Accounting of governments 56 years of failure to provide Bay/Delta protections identified, authorized, mandated, and finance in 1960; unfortunately, government spent the funds and never fulfilled the legislative and voter mandate. The Fact-Finding Forensic Accounting Report will be made public soon. 

 

Grape and nut glut drying up Golden State’s watering holes Part I

California water officials and mainstream media assertions this epic drought caused socioeconomic and financial disaster to state’s economy is not supported by the facts published in government reports.

Three years into the drought and the Golden State Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached a record of $2.31 trillion, agricultural revenues higher than ever, statewide building permits doubled, and more water-guzzling permanent crops planted. (Latest published GDP figures.)

 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2 May 2016

Contact Patrick Porgans, Solutionist Porgans/Associates porgansinc@sbcglobal.net (916) 833-8734

Californians inundated by a plethora of mainstream-media bytes predicting Draconian consequence from this "epic drought" water experts and public-relations firms branded the worst in 500-years are perplexed by drought-flood news accounts aired simultaneously.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/30/california-drought-effects-500-years_n_4647539.html

Meanwhile, government officials, water contractors, and mainstream media, whine about the dire impacts of the so-called worst drought in California since the 1500s, the record, show they're reaping windfall profits.

Public records attest that the Golden State's economy, tax revenue stream, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached all-time highs during four years of drought. In the third year of the drought, the state's GDP was a record-breaker.

"In 2014, the State’s GDP was ranked as the 7th or 8th largest economy in the world, based on traditional measurements [just below France and above Brazil]. On June 10 [2015], the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its preliminary estimates of state gross domestic product (GDP) for 2014, as we described in a blog post last week. California's 2014 GDP— the value of all goods and services produced here—was estimated at $2.31 trillion. There are different estimates of countries' GDP." http://www.lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/90
That number is the latest number published by the government (www.bea.gov)

Epic drought generates the largest budget in State’s history: Last month, Governor Jerry Brown proposed the largest budget in California's history; $170 billion, of which, $120 billion comes from the State's General Fund revenue stream; with additional billions earmarked by Brown to the "Rainy Day" fund. This surplus of funds is collected tax revenue; almost 70 percent of the $120 billion is derived from personal income tax. Today, the Rainy Day Fund is at 37 percent of its constitutional target (10 percent of General Fund tax revenues) amounts to $12 billion to be held in reserve! The Budget proposes to bring the Rainy Day Fund to a balance of 65 percent. ttp://ebudget.ca.gov/FullBudgetSummary.pdf]

This March, government and water industry officials responded to the good news by extending mandatory water cutback! California’s economy has expanded during the past seven years.

Governor’s Budget Summary 2016-2017, Introduction. "The economy is finishing its seventh year of expansion, already two years longer than the average recovery. While the timing is uncertain, the next recession is getting closer, and the state must begin to plan for it. If new ongoing commitments are made now, then the severity of the cuts will be far greater – even devastating – when the recession begins. Without question, the best way to protect against future cuts is to build up the state’s Rainy Day Fund," according to Gov. Brown.

Californians face a multi-dimensional conundrum; an extended drought, which imposed first-time ever statewide mandatory water cutbacks while portions of the state are under siege from flooding resulting from the remnant of a fading El Nino. Factors compounded by a massive appeal by the water industry requesting State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) members to end the drought. In the interim, the Brown Administration recently reinstituted signage posted on California highways stating: Extreme Drought – Conserve water!

Water condition above average: The truth about the state's water conditions is immersed in a stupor of shifting forecasts, as is the winter weather, unpredictable and changing. On 1 February a report depicting statewide precipitation at 115 percent and 120 percent for the North Coast Region for this time of year, according to Department of Water Resources (DWR) personnel.1 The very next day 2 February the SWRCB voted to extend drought emergency regulation, purportedly to ensure mandatory water conservation through October 2016.2
http://saveourwater.com/blog-posts/conservation-extended/ 

In early March through April Californians were stunned as officials dump floodwaters from Folsom Dam, on the American River, which had received 120 percent of average precipitation. Water was also being dumped at other major reservoirs in the north state. http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article67772672.html

It is estimated that more than one million acre-feet of water were dumped from state reservoirs, enough to provide half of the water needs of those 19 million customers receive annually from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The March snow survey, conducted by DWR personnel showed snowpack at locations ranged from low 90s to over 100 percent of average. http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/waterconditions.cfm

Findings contained in a Forensic Accounting based on the public record and direct intercommunication with water officials and regulatory personnel, most of whom putatively accepted the 500-year conjecture, in the absences of verifiable peer-reviewed data. If the intrinsic shortcomings of those assertions were even theoretically plausible, assuming that this is the worst drought in California, it might have possibly occurred in central and southern California; however, the public record does not support those assertions in the water-rich north state. http://www.theterranews.com/content/?p=66539 

Forensic Accounts of previous drought events are the subject of a series of article that prompted responses from the California Farm Water Coalition.

The California Farm Water Coalition has this response to Patrick Porgans & Lloyd Carter’s post, Wolf Cries – Howling About Drought – All Wet – No More Doubts Officials Exaggerated Severity of Drought: "Coalition viewpoint…These numbers provide a clear picture of the effect that governmental regulations and the drought, during the past four years, had on water users who rely on deliveries of water through the Delta. As indicated by the bloggers, the water years in the Sacramento Valley from 2006-2009 averaged 16.39 million acre-feet (MAF), which is a 60% increase, or 6 MAF more than during 1989-1992." http://www.farmwater.org/Current-News/ http://www.watereducation.org/aquafornia-news/california-farm-water-coalition-responds-porganscarter-commentary-howling-about 

Ironically, the doomsday public-relations campaign precipitated an astonishing downpour of wealth to state and federal water contractors that already receive publicly-subsidized water. Water districts and land-gentry billionaires reaped an abundant harvest of public give-away funds. Unfortunately, their profits come at the expense and to the demise of urban water users; taxpayers, the state General Fund, and Public Trust Resources (water, fish, and wildlife).3

Abundant Harvest: Contrary to mainstream media reports, agricultural profits reached all-time high in the fourth year of drought. "Even though the 2014 crop year coincides with the third consecutive year of unprecedented drought, the innovation and resilience of California’s agricultural community continue to ensure the State’s agricultural abundance. Despite the tremendous challenges in 2014, the farmgate value of the state’s 76,400 farms and ranches was a record $54 billion. Of the $54 billion, over $21 billion was attributed to California’s agricultural exports." http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/iodir?s=b120

Building permits doubled: In the second and third year of the drought, building permits doubled statewide.
http://www/census.gpv/construction/bps/txt/tb2u2013.txt http://www/census.gpv/construction/bps/txt/tb2u2012.txt
http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/FS_DATA/LatestEconData?FS_Construction.htm

The Governor's Proclamation and the Emergency Drought Regulations relieve government water project operators of their obligation to comply with the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). It also sanctions the reduction or suspension of water quality standards and objectives contained in the San Francisco Bay- Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary Water Quality Control Plan; enacted to protect Delta farmers, water diverters, and aquatic, avian and terrestrial species.

The SWRCB issued emergency drought regulation that targets mandatory cutbacks by urban-residential users, while subversively exempting the agricultural industry that reportedly applies an estimated 80 percent of the state's developed water supply annually. Instead, Board members left it up to the agricultural industry to reduce and conserve water.

Gross agricultural revenues represent about two (2) percent of the State's GDP. Additional revenue is generated by the processing and distribution of the products produced. Thus for every dollar of value added in that sector, there is an additional $1.27 added to the state economy.
 http://aic.ucdavis.edu/publications/moca/moca_current/moca09/moca09chapter5.pdf

During this current drought, it is estimated that $3 billion of borrowed public funds have already been given away for drought "relief" programs. That money comes from the sale of State issued General Obligation (G.O.) bonds, which, repayment is backed by the full-faith and credit of California. A list of General Obligation Bonds authorized and issued by the state can be found here. http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/bonds/debt/04/authorized.pdf

For every dollar of G.O. bonds sold, it cost a dollar in interest; it will cost $6 billion to repay, with revenues derived the State's General Fund. "It must never be forgotten, however, that 69.5 percent of our General Fund revenues come from the volatile personal income tax which, as history shows us, drops precipitously in time of recession — an event not too far off given the historic pattern of the ten recessions that have occurred since 1945. During a moderate recession, revenue losses to the General Fund will easily total $55 billion over three years"; Gov.'s Budget Summary 2016-2017.11 [Note: Rainy Day Fund is used to assure bond investors G.O. debt is covered. http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-jerry-brown-releases-state-budget-20160107-story.html

California land of fruits and nuts exporting water to foreign markets

 "California, which produces much of the country's water-guzzling fruits [nuts] and vegetables, is in year four of a major drought, and almonds, its No. 1 export, have become a symbol of the state's heavy water consumption. Mature almond trees in the Southern Sacramento Valley use 41 to 44 inches of water on average per year, according to the University of California at Davis. Trees in drier southern San Joaquin Valley use 50 to 54 inches. In California, an acre supports about 124 almond trees. Last year, and acre produced around 2,270 pounds of almonds, for a ratio of about 502 gallons of water per pound of nuts." (The math works out to equals 3.49 acre-feet of water per acre of almonds planted.) Total amount of water applied averages out to 3.55 MAF annually.
www.wsj.com/articles/the-numbers-behind-agricultural-water-use-1434726353

The amount of water required to sustain the growth of these almonds is 1.4 MAF more than the 2.1 MAF the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California provides annually. (One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons; an average California household uses between one-half and one acre-foot of water per year for indoor and outdoor use.) http://www.watereducation.org/general-information/whats-acre-foot

Almond crop bonanza – money grows on trees: In the year 2000, there was 610,000 acre of almond planted, valued at $666,487,000 for the crop. California's 2014 almond acreage is estimated at 1,020,000 acres, up 5 percent from the 2013 acreage of 970,000, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Of the total acreage for 2014, 870,000 acres were bearing, and 150,000 acres were nonbearing, crop valued at $6,464,500,000. http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_StateCalifornia/Publications/fruits_and_Nuts/201505almpd.pdf

The subjective production for the 2015 almond crop is 1.85 billion pounds, according to a survey conducted by the National Statistic Service. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Fruits_and_Nuts/201505almpd.pdf

CBS and Fox News "erred" scenes of almond orchards ripped out due to a lack of water while other experts predicted California would run out of water in 2016. Public records do not support their assertions and the orchard depicted in their stories failed to "air" the scene where those same drought-stricken lands were replanted with a new variety of almonds. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/depleting-the-water As indicated by USDA's Graph California Almond Bearing Acreage has continued to expand before and since the onset of this drought, in 2011.
http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/California/Publications/Fruits_and_Nuts/201505almpd.pdf

The SWRCB was advised of almond acreage expansion years ago; it took no action to curtail the use of the public's water, and growers went nuts. http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrightsissues/programs/drought/docs/workshops/comments/patrick_porgans.pdf
 

There was so much of a glut in the almond market that the price of almonds dropped precipitously. After prices for almonds climbed to a record $4 per pound in 2014, farmers across California began replacing their cheaper crops with the nut, causing a huge increase in supply. Now, the bubble has popped. Since late 2014, according to The Washington Post, almond prices have fallen by around 25%.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/29/too-many-almonds/

More grapes and other permanent crops also planted while building permits doubled statewide in 2013-2014.
http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/FS_DATA/LatestEconData/FS_Construction.htm

A major challenge facings taxpaying Californians, is if they can afford to export water in the form of surplus fruits and nuts to countries such as China, which is not required to pay an import tax. In the interim, the California dream appears to be fading into the midst impairing their quality of life and cost of living as the forces behind water exploitation usurp others water and property rights.

Endnotes

1 California Department of Water Resources, Bulletin 120, Water Conditions in California, February 1, 2016, p. 2.  
2 State Water Resource Control Board’s Fact Sheet, Extending the Emergency Water Conservation Regulation, 9 February 2016.
3 Joseph L. Sax, The Public Trust Doctrine In Natural Resource Law: Effective Judicial Intervention, The Historical Background, Michigan Law Review, [Vol. 68:471]

Part  II: Water officials usurp property/water rights under the guise drastic action to protect endangered fish 
Part III: California’s drought-flood water management crises - why it pays - source of funds 

About the author: Patrick Porgans is a Solutionist, and for the past 40 years serving clients and as a de facto public trustee, assisting and or compelling government officials to perform their functions in a manner consistent with the law. Porgans authored more than 80 Fact-Finding reports on water- and water-related issues in the West. He contributed to Mark Reisner's Cadillac Desert publication. He is the author of "Truth De-Code-It", which provides insight on how wealthy land-gentry billionaires are using the tax base, the state's credit rating, General Fund, General Obligation Bonds, and publicly-owned natural resources to amass and sustain ill-gain fortunes. (Truth De-Code-It focuses on ways to mutually coexist and to empower ourselves to make change, one person, one day at a time. The FACT SHEET can be viewed at www.planetarysolutionaries.org or by emailing noblewaters@yahoo.com This report was made possible by the joint commitment of New-Old Worlds Wholistically Emerging (NOWWE) and Patrick Porgans/Associates as a public service. For more articles and FACT SHEETS, Google Patrick Porgans water.

One word for 2016 and hereafter

Another Human being for Peace

Farmers Try Political Force to Twist Open California’s Taps

Few in agriculture have shaped the debate over water more than the
several hundred owners of an arid finger of farmland west of Fresno.
By MICHAEL WINES and JENNIFER MEDINADEC. 30, 2015 NYT

FIVE POINTS, Calif. — The message that Maria L. Gutierrez gave legislators on Capitol Hill was anguished and blunt: California’s historic drought had not merely left farmland idle. It had destroyed Latino farm workers’ jobs, shuttered Latino businesses and thrown Latino families on the street. Yet Congress had turned a deaf ear to their pleas for more water to revive farming and farm labor.

So Latinos — the nation’s fastest-growing ethnic group, she noted pointedly — were sending a warning that politicians could not ignore.

“We created an organization that’s called El Agua Es Asunto de Todos — Water Is Everybody’s Business — so the Latino voice can be heard,” Ms. Gutierrez, who described herself as an El Agua volunteer, said in October 2013 at the meeting with lawmakers. “Don’t devastate our economy. Don’t take our jobs away.”

The group has since blanketed California with demands for more water on Spanish-language television, on the Internet, even on yard signs. But for whom it speaks is another matter: El Agua is bankrolled by more than $1.1 million from the Westlands Water District, the nation’s largest agricultural irrigation contractor, a state entity created at the behest of — and largely controlled by — some of California’s wealthiest and most politically influential farmers.

For almost five decades, Westlands has brought its farmers a torrent of water from the reservoirs and aqueducts of the federal Central Valley Project, the vast public work that irrigates half of California agriculture. Drought has reduced that torrent to drops, and El Agua is one part of Westlands’ wide-ranging effort to open the spigots again.

California has more than 81,000 farms, and farmers claim four-fifths of all the water its citizens consume. But no one in agriculture has shaped the debate over water more — or swung their elbows wider — than the few hundred owners of an arid, Rhode Island-size finger of farmland west of Fresno.

A water utility on paper, Westlands in practice is a formidable political force, a $100 million-a-year agency with five lobbying firms under contract in Washington and Sacramento, a staff peppered with former federal and congressional powers, a separate political action committee representing farmers and a government-and-public-relations budget that topped $950,000 last year. It is a financier and leading force for a band of 29 water districts that spent at least another $270,000 on lobbying last year. Its nine directors and their relatives gave at least $430,000 to federal candidates and the Republican Party in the last two election cycles, and the farmers’ political action committee gave more than $315,000 more. Continue reading the main story