The crux of this transport system is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a sensitive marshland region where two of the state’s largest rivers converge and flow out into the San Francisco Bay. This area is also the point where endangered fish species like Chinook salmon enter from the Pacific and swim upstream to spawn.

President Trump startled some of his most ardent supporters in the San Joaquin Valley by having the Army Corps of Engineers suddenly release water from two dams.