"Western Water: Thirsty Westlands Faces Escalating Woes"

"MENDOTA, Calif. — Driving down Highway 33 through California's Central Valley, signs of the state's ongoing drought — and water wars — are everywhere. Fields of green winter wheat and diagonal rows of almond trees alternate with brown fields. Billboards every few miles read, "No water = No jobs."

'I don't know who put that sign there,' said Tom Birmingham, the general manager of Westlands Water District. 'But what it says is accurate.'

Westlands, the largest agricultural water district in the country, is at the center of it all; the region has some of the most productive farmland in the world — but very little water."

Debra Kahn reports for Greenwire August 3, 2016.