Clout can be defined in many ways. In California’s parched Central Valley farmlands, it’s the ability to secure water. By that measure, the giant Westlands Water District has just set a whole new ...

This is the Walnut Grove home of Jason Peltier, a former deputy general manager of the Westland Water District. Peltier received a $1.4 million loan at 0.84% interest from the district to buy the home ...

Tom Birmingham has helped Westlands Water District provide to its 700 farms for the past 15 years. His methods have made the district a key player in some of the state’s bitterest water battles. But ...

I am a farmer in the Westlands Water District. That is not an easy thing to admit these days. My acres there aren’t vast, nor do I wield much power. I have never sat on the board of directors. Like ...

The Interior Department has resumed the long slog toward development of a big California irrigation drainage system, because the controversial alternative remains mired down in Congress. The Interior ...

This year, the annual bill governing national defense policy almost settled a three-decades-old conflict in California over toxic water draining from farm fields. Lawmakers finished resolving the ...

The massive Westlands Water District, a longtime nemesis of Delta activists, will pay a $125,000 penalty after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused the district of “misleading investors ...

Far from California’s San Joaquin Valley, an irrigation drainage problem that once turned deadly continues to confront a crucial but little-known federal court. Though the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ...