Opinion | California in the Water Wars
A facts-only brief, written by a local AI model from this article in The Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2026. It may contain mistakes, and it is not the article: the full story is at wsj.com.
Jason Oliphant, a resident of Chatsworth, California, argues in a letter that the state should expand its water infrastructure by constructing additional reservoirs and desalination facilities. He contends that California should cease releasing freshwater into the ocean for the purpose of protecting smelt and insects, asserting that abundant snowfall in the Sierra Mountains should be captured rather than wasted. Oliphant suggests that this combined approach would alleviate drought conditions in the Southwest and enable California to sell surplus water to Arizona, Nevada, and Northern Mexico. He calls for an end to what he describes as denial regarding water scarcity in the western United States.
Background
- The letter responds to a previous contribution by Peter Volny advocating for desalination plants.
- Oliphant proposes that excess water could be sold to neighboring states and countries.
- The author attributes the current water crisis partly to the practice of discharging freshwater to protect specific aquatic species.
Read the full article at wsj.com
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