To save the Delta, we need to conserve more water

Readers’ letters

Peter Drekmeier’s oped (“California can revive San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary,” Opinion, Feb. 17) makes solid points about water policy, which we should heed. California’s beauty and biodiversity make it an amazing place to live, and those qualities are why many of us choose to stay here, despite the cost of living. To support wildlife and the Bay-Delta, the largest estuary west of the Mississippi, we need to use less water. It’s as simple as that.

For most city dwellers, this implies fewer lawns, since outdoor use accounts for more than half of urban water use.

For developers and builders, it means smarter, sustainable designs.

For wildlife, there is no choice, no ability to innovate. Water is a matter of life and death and extinction, and their loss is our loss.

So as a people who take pride in innovation and diversity, we can and should do better.