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Science & Medicine

Water diversion debate in Northern California

Rice farmer Don Bransford walks along a berm in one of his rice fields near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.

Rice farmer Don Bransford walks along a berm in one of his rice fields near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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Thanks to seniority, powerful Central Valley irrigation districts that most Californians have never heard of are at the head of the line for vast amounts of water, even at the expense of the environment and the rest of the state -- and even in times of drought.

Green field

A farmer plows a field in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Irrigated rows

Irrigated fields near Chico in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Dry times

Cracked dry earth in the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Help from above

A crop duster dives over a flooded rice field near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Bubbly

Water bubbles up from a pump flooding a cornfield in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Bird life

Pelicans wade in the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Lush

Rice grows in a watery field on Don Bransford’s farm near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Lateral canal

A lateral canal flows off the Glenn-Colusa Canal near rice fields and nut orchards near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Nature

An egret wades through shallow water in the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Bugged

Countless insects swarm along a road near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Dusk

A dusky sky is reflected in a flooded rice field near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Silhouette

A grain silo is silhouetted against the evening sky near a flooded rice field near the city of Williams in the Sacramento Valley.  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

A road runs through it

A flooded rice field, left, reflects the rising sun alongside the Glenn-Colusa canal in the Sacramento Valley near the city of Williams.   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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