ABSTRACT
This chapter performs analysis along the lines of the political debate over the future of California's Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. It utilizes these analyses as a starting point to investigate the political dimensions of the debate over policy alternatives. The chapter evaluates their political consequences in a comprehensive framework capable of identifying politically feasible solutions to the Delta crisis. An analysis focused on identifying economically efficient outcomes would attempt to monetize the welfare measures to permit the construction of a social welfare function. The chapter offers a discussion of what alternatives are likely to be politically feasible given the identified impacts on the stakeholder groups. It provides a description of the Delta's role in the state's water system, a description of the current pressures facing the Delta, and a discussion about the political debate over the region's. The chapter utilizes a stylized model of the major policy decision to discuss the political feasibility of the policy alternatives currently under consideration.
