Daniel Mufson | Sep 28, 2021

The Register reports that the Napa River is dry above Trancas Street. The river that has sustained life of plants, animals and man here forever is dry. Can you imagine that? Where does a fox go for a drink of water? We drive up and down the valley oblivious to the tragedy.

Dry means no fish, no frogs, no turtles, no bugs, no birds -- no life that is part of that ecosystem. We know there’s a drought but why no water in the river? Are we sharing the water we have? Is it all being held in reservoirs? Has it been depleted by over pumping of adjacent ground water?

What does it mean to boast about a thousand fish-friendly vineyards when there are no fish? The Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Advisory Committee held a public meeting on Thursday and in answer to questions about the lack of water in the river we were told that this “was not a river plan it’s a groundwater plan.”

What? Surely the two are interconnected. I thought the plan was to be for the welfare of all users of water in the subbasin. What does that mean when the river, our spine, is broken? Can we continue to permit more buildings/expansions? Can the body long survive with a broken spine?

Will history record that the people who lived in this valley in 2021 destroyed it forever?

Register LTE version: Our Spine is Broken

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