Over 350 people turn out for 'Over Troubled Waters' screening

A crowd of over 350 people turned out for the Stockton premiere of Restore the Delta's "Over Troubled Waters" documentary at the Empire Theatre on Monday, August 20.

"We are planning a second screening in September for those who couldn't get a ticket," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director of Restore the Delta. "Thank you to all our loyal supporters, and thank you to Caleen Sisk from the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, Congressman Jerry McNerney, Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller, Assemblymember Bill Berryhill, Mayor Ann Johnston, and Council Member Susan Eggman for speaking, leading, and uniting our communities for the fight at hand."

Reporter Alex Breitler covered the event in today's Stockton Record: http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20120821%2FA_NEWS%2F208210313

The next screening of "Over Troubled Waters" will take place Aug. 28 in Los Angeles at the Landmark Theater at 7:00 p.m. There will be a special appearance by Ed Begley, Jr.. However, Restore the Delta is hoping to have another screening in Stockton, as well as showings in Fresno and the Bay Area.

"When the good people of California understand the water system plan, that’s when water will be protected for all," urged Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. "The Winnemem Wintu Tribe urges other Tribes to see this film! Let’s stop big agribusiness from polluting and taking water."

For more information, go to: http://www.restorethedelta.org.

"Over Troubled Waters," a documentary about the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, premiered in Sacramento on Wednesday, August 8 at the Crest Theater. U.S. Representative George Miller joined hundreds of sustainable water policy advocates at a news conference prior to the film premier, the centerpiece of a public education effort to stop the building of peripheral tunnels.

In what the group describes as a "visually rich documentary," Ed Begley Jr. narrates the story of how the people of the Delta are fighting to protect the region they love and to encourage saner, sustainable water policies for all the people of California.

“This is our chance to tell the real Delta story,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “This film reveals how powerful forces are using fear of flooding and earthquakes to make a case for transforming a unique, beautiful, productive region into a permanent way station for water going somewhere else. They are trying to shore up an outdated water system with a massive, multi-billion dollar water transfer project that Californians will be paying for decades.”

During the Sacramento screening U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), the first recipient of the organization's "Delta Advocate" award and the author of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992, presented Wolk with this year's "Delta Advocate" award.

“Lois Wolk is a champion of the Delta and this state’s environment," said Miller. "In every level of her public life, she has participated in making that environment more secure and more accessible to families, for the enjoyment of our population. She saw how special this place is and how important it is to the state and the communities in and around the Delta. That helped change the discussion. She’s been a great fighter, a great thinker, and a great negotiator.”

“I am honored to be a voice for the Delta, the heart of the state water system," said Wolk. "It is a vital and unique resource, and protecting it has been one of my top priorities. I thank Restore the Delta for the honor and for creating a strong coalition to preserve the Delta. I also thank all those who live, work and recreate in the Delta, and who will fight to preserve and protect it for our children and grandchildren.”

Wolk received the award two weeks after she spoke at a rally at the State Capitol challenging Governor Jerry Brown's plan to build a 37-mile Peripheral Tunnels project. Brown's plan would divert the Sacramento River to Southern California with two large underground "peripheral tunnels" that are expected to hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other fish species. The massive public works project proposed under the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) is estimated to cost between $21 billion and $47 billion or more.