`Until the Last Drop’ flows nimbly through California’s water wars
Before COVID-19, before George Floyd, before all the demonstrations and even the presidential campaign, we had water wars.
The threat of losing a substantial amount of river water that our farmers depend on was so startling in the summer of 2018 that 1,500 people from Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties flocked to a well-orchestrated rally in Sacramento. Our elected officials, farmers and regular people vented anger at the proposed “water grab” while the Atwater High marching band brought an air of protest pomp.
Two years later, the water wars are far from over, a point made clear in a just-released feature-length documentary, “Until the Last Drop.” If you can block from your mind the old Folgers “good to the last drop” commercials, the film title will evoke a combination of dripping water with a fight to the last drop of blood.
This is a serious issue. The threat of a blow to our Valley economy is as real as it was two years ago. That’s why farming interests have framed it in terms of warfare; don’t forget the “Worth your fight” battle cry of the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts arguing against doubling environmental flows on the Tuolumne and Merced rivers, and increasing them 50% on the Stanislaus River.
The central message of the film, however, is less about waging war and more about finding a workable truce.
“Until the Last Drop” is an advocacy project, to be sure. You would expect no less of something produced by the Modesto Irrigation District and written and shepherded by Mike Dunbar, my predecessor here at The Modesto Bee who retired from crafting editorial opinions and columns in February 2019.
Dunbar amassed expertise through many years of studying and writing about California water for our newspaper. He’s now putting it to use on behalf of farmers, water agencies and everyone benefiting from the foresight of people who more than 100 years ago harnessed runoff from mountain snowpack to transform our Valley from a desert to a garden.
It’s easy to reduce the “water grab” struggle to a farms-v.-fish sound bite, with ag interests on one side and environmentalists on the other.
This documentary rises above that. The strength of “Until the Last Drop” is its breadth, its ability to probe the depths of the controversy in visual ways that will deepen and enrich the viewer’s understanding and appreciation for both farms and fish. Not to mention the 2.6 million people, including those in Modesto and San Francisco, who also rely on mountain flows for drinking water.
Soaring above Stanislaus, Tuolumne rivers
Dunbar, lead cinematographer Marco Sanchez and filmmakers at Modesto-based Final Cut Media put us in the room — and right on the river — with more than two dozen scientists, elected and appointed officials, water managers, conservationists and growers. Viewers also soar above gorges in breath-taking drone footage, wander through blossoming orchards and plunge below the water line to get up close and personal with salmon.
The film highlights the biggest problem with the state Water Boards’ late 2018 water grab — that it was based on science as old as 40 years, ignoring up-to-date studies as well as the pleas of our people. It probes the varied obstacles contributing to declining salmon counts: predation, or fingerlings getting eaten by nonnative fish, particularly bass; and river temperature, turbidity and salinity.
Farmers, experts and elected leaders explain how all could dramatically improve through actions proposed in what’s called voluntary agreements, compromises negotiated with state officials but never approved. That solution is endorsed by local water agencies, The Bee and Gov. Gavin Newsom. VAs would require that we give up some farm water, but not enough to satisfy the environmental lobby.
Unfortunately, we seem “stuck in a world of `your gain is my loss,’” Assemblyman Adam Gray says in the documentary. So this war may have to be decided in court, where both sides could spend years and millions of dollars in a battle that could be as ugly as “Until the Last Drop” is beautiful.
It’s a shame that COVID-19 restrictions prevent a grand premiere at the State Theatre in Modesto, a likely venue for this work of art. But anyone can download or stream it at www.untilthelastdrop.com.
This story was originally published September 6, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
