I have no idea if this is the new norm for operations or not. I certainly hope not,” one irrigation district GM said.

The crux of this transport system is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a sensitive marshland region where two of the state’s largest rivers converge and flow out into the San Francisco Bay. This area is also the point where endangered fish species like Chinook salmon enter from the Pacific and swim upstream to spawn.

Experts said it involves two water storage and delivery systems -- the federally managed Central Valley Project (or CVP) and the state-controlled State Water Project (or SWP), from which Kern County gets most of its water.