Delta residents — Delta water 'outsiders'?

Water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have been ratcheted up once again, according to reports from Central Valley news outlets.

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, said that it's a victory for his region over "Valley outsiders."

Except that many of those "outsiders" he refers to are, in part, residents of the same valley. It's just that they happen to live where the water is being diverted from, rather than being diverted to.

Those who depend on water exports to till often marginal land in Parts Previously Unwatered have quite the nerve to label as "outsiders" residents of the San Joaquin Delta — who this past decade saw marked increases in the water pumped out of the Delta and the dramatic adverse impact those diversions had — or fishermen who rely on a healthy ecosystem for their livelihood.

That's not to suggest the folks near Fresno and on the western side of the lower Central Valley shouldn't get any Delta water at all. Just saying that a little honesty in this debate could go a long way — especially from a congressman.