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While fights over water simmer around the world, the United States has its own share of arguments and debates - one of them right here in California. The state is depleting groundwater aquifers at a rapid rate. That's one reason for the controversial proposal to build a pair of tunnels on the east side of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to bring water south.

A lively debate over the project's viability and suggested benefits continues, but at least it has not yet led to lawsuits, as have similar debates elsewhere in the country.