I have submitted a shorter letter responding to the Chronicle's front-page article by Carolyn Lochhead ("Central Valley reps bill would upend water rights," February 17, 2012), but believe the inaccuracies and omissions in it are so stark that it deserves a more detailed reply.

"Representatives from the Central Valley pushed legislation through a House committee Thursday that would upend the state's system of water rights, deploying the federal government to extract water from Northern California farms, fisheries and cities to send to farmers in the valley."

Title IV of the measure specifically reaffirms and guarantees the state's system of water rights and brings the full force of federal law to protect those rights.
  
Indeed, the Northern California Water Association, representing the very water users Ms. Lochhead contends would have their rights "upended" and their water "extracted" strongly supports the bill.  It writes:

 "The bill, if enacted, now contains provisions that would not only protect the interests of senior water rights holders in the Sacramento Valley, but would also provide significant, material water policy improvements to current federal law.  The bill, if enacted, would provide an unprecedented federal statutory express recognition of, and commitment to, California's state water rights priority system and area of origin protections.  This is important for the region to provide sustainable water supplies for productive farmlands, wildlife refuges, and managed wetlands, cities and rural communities, recreation, and meandering rivers that support important fisheries."