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Tells the story of California's most precious resource, tracing the journey of water in the state from the atmosphere to the snowpack to taps and foods. The book also describes California's rivers, lakes, wetlands, dams, and aqueducts and discusses the role of water in agriculture, the environment, and politics.

"Lavishly illustrated with maps and color photos, the book is a sort of field guide to the state's watersheds, canals, reservoirs, groundwater basins, legendary water contamination problems and colossal endangered species issues, and to the ways all these parts intermesh with-or against-each other. . . . We can only hope that, someday, such a guide is available for every state in the West, perhaps handed out like voter's guides, or Gideon's Bibles."--Matt Jenkins, High Country News

"The type of book you would hope to see in every welcome basket for every lawmaker coming to Sacramento for the first time. California, with its diversity in climate, natural water wonders, and massive expenditures on water based infrastructures deserves such a book. Anyone living in or interested in California should reach such a book."--E. George Robison, Jrnl of the American Water Resources Association

"Get a library card and check this guide out for a week or two, and then make it a part of the natural history library at your home. It's a comprehensive look at a very complicated subject and a fascinating journey about water."--Christina Reed, Mammoth Times

"This new title in UC Press's California Natural History Guide series does an admirable job of explaining California's natural waterscapes, what we've done to them, and where we go from here. . . . David Carle makes what could have been a forbiddingly technical subject accessible to anyone with an interest in water policy and politics."--Joe Eaton, Terrain Magazine

"This book engages readers at a personal level."--Donald Pisani, author of Water and American Government

"Water is the foundation upon which California's ecosystems and economic vitality rise. . . . This is a must read for anyone living in California, whether they are students, politicians, farmers, environmental activists, or corporate executives."--Arthur Guy Baggett, Jr., Chair, California State Water Resources Control Board

"A comprehensive, readable natural history guide to an extremely complicated subject. It interweaves the historical, human, and technological factors with the ecological and environmental realities."--Pam Lloyd, former Chair of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, S.F. Bay Region