Within the past few days, California farmers have been protesting the newly-proposed and updated California Water Plan (which the State alters every five years) because of its requirement to double the water flow in the Low San Joaquin River to protect declining salmon populations. Farmers claim that they would lose thousands of gallons of water, while environmentalists and fisheries argue that the farmers are corrupt and without this increased water flow, the salmon would likely go extinct. This recent controversy made me realize that environmental concerns are basically nonexistent in the Prendergast documents I have been reviewing. These water politicians and engineers of the 1950s were blissfully unaware of the consequences in their attempts to fuel the growing urban California areas, thus leading to such dilemmas today. Thankfully, our state’s mindset has broadened, and the most recent California Water Plan is full of ecological rhetoric.