TY - JOUR T1 - Water policy: A California split JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 329 LP - 332 VL - 37 IS - 6 AU - Ken Cook Y1 - 1982/11/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/37/6/329.abstract N2 - On the vines in Sonoma and Napa, wine grapes—the Zinfandels, Chenins Blancs, and Chardonnays—rot hanging. On the ground near Fresno, where normally they would be drying to a shrivel, raisin grapes bloat to pulp. They will be suitable for green manure as soon as the ground is dry enough to bear tractors. This same fate awaits many a tomato field in Yolo, where the fruit blackens and sags in the dampness. “Must be real bad Karma around,” one distraught farmer told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I'm real freaked out.” The rains are rinsing the magic from his marijuana crop. This spring, rains rinsed homes and highways from the hills of northern California. People were killed by rains. Planting was delayed. And now, for some farmers, the harvest will be called on account of rain. So it was ironic that the Water Resources Conservation and Efficiency Act initiative, the elements of which were conceived five years ago during California's driest year of the century, appeared on the ballot … ER -