Book Review: “The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California” by Mark Arax

 Mark Arax in his book, The Dreamt Land, forcefully makes the point that there have been massive engineering projects moving water from some parts of the state to others. While Los Angeles and San Francisco benefit from this (the movie Chinatown is based on this and San Francisco benefits from Hetch Hetchy), most of the water goes to, and the focus of this book is on, the agricultural regions of the Central Valley (between the Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada mountains).

The book contains stories about the struggle for water among regions and among wealthy landowners for water, with some of the actions of questionable legality. The use of pumps to access underground aquifers, especially during periods when water has been scarce, has caused environmental damage with the ground noticeably sinking. The author points out that average rain and snowfall are meaningless; California has veered from too little water to too much.

Reading this book forces one to consider the fragility of the water system that California agriculture is based in the light of climate change. If there is less water flowing in the rivers and the canals and the California aqueduct because of a smaller snowpack in the Sierras, then this will force changes in California agriculture, which, because of its size, will affect where food comes from in the U.S. and much of the world. 

The book, though, leaves this as something to consider, not a sustained argument that it is making. The problem with the book is that its organizational plan is difficult to discern and it does not make a sustained argument. It is, in fact, a set of stories, mostly set in the Central Valley, from the past and present. Sometimes the author veers from the subject of water to other issues which the author cares about, such as undocumented farmworkers. The book seems to be based on all the author’s notes compiled over the years. It could have done with some ruthless editing.

The book has a map, but it could have done with more and better maps so that those readers not deeply knowledgeable of the geography of the Central Valley could more easily follow the narrative, such as it is.

Nevertheless, to those interested in the massive water projects in California and those interested in agriculture, this long book is worth reading. A reader will also learn a considerable amount of California’s history.

The author, who grew up in the Central Valley and became a reporter, has a deep knowledge of the area and he writes very well, in fact much better than most journalists who go on to write books. One wishes, though, that publishing houses would do more editing of the books they publish.