Eric Wesselman: It is ‘we the people’ who are confiscating Tuolumne’s water
Re “Water-rights lies won’t help fix the Tuolumne” (Page 7A, Oct. 26): MID’s Trumpesque piece was disappointing (SAD!). Of course people, agencies and businesses hold water rights, but ultimately the water flowing down the rivers of California belongs to the people as it should. Water rights can change and, in time, they certainly will. Most of the water that once flowed down our rivers is already diverted. Allowing a bit more to flow is restoration, not confiscation.
Rivers should at least stay half full. They are not aqueducts. They are our veins and arteries – our lifeblood. Water is a needed input for agriculture and other goods and services, but to be clear, it is we the people who are confiscating it. It is our duty to use it more wisely so we can have healthy rivers, people and businesses.
Eric Wesselman, Executive Director, Friends of the River, Sacramento
This story was originally published October 31, 2017 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Eric Wesselman: It is ‘we the people’ who are confiscating Tuolumne’s water."