"Every drop of water that runs to the sea without yielding its full commercial returns to the nation is an economic waste."-- Herbert Hoover,
"...water which is allowed to enter the sea is wasted."-- Joseph Stalin

What is curious about this Merced Irrigation District proposal to heighten the McClure Dam is that the district just sold 15,000 acre feet to a west side water district. During the last propaganda-manufactured drought, Merced ID's reservoirs were overflowing, just like all the reservoirs on the east side of the valley, which is watered by a number of rivers out of the
Sierra unlike the west side of the valley, which is watered by no river south of Mendota and until the San Joaquin River Settlement, the San Joaquin arrived from the Sierra to Mendota bone dry during the gorwing season for 60 years. So, while dams like the Don Pedro on the Tuolumne are overflowing and Modesto ID, which stores its water in Don Pedro Reservoir negotiates with San Francisco for a 50-year water contract, the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, the junior-most water partner, gets its water from the Delta via the Delta-Mendota Canal and San Luis Canal.

Although the usual reason for the dam raising -- the manic gread for more water, more power, more moeny that motivates the managers of irrigation and water districts --is probably sufficient, we have another suggestion.