Bzzzt! CA Steals water - they have always used the "excess" overage. Gale Norton, the current Secretary of the Interior has been the ONLY secretary to tell CA to shove it and live up to it's agreements:
Interior secretary cuts California\'s share of Colorado River
10.17.03 Interior secretary OKs water settlement

Also, CA farmers (most of the farms are now owned by large corporations) pay 1930's rates, while the consumer users and WE the taxpayers pay the lion's share of the water rates.

Yeah, growing stupid shit at subsidized rates:
Briefing Paper

A quick search on google for subsidized California farmer water rate turns up tons of stuff.

And it wouldn't be so bad if people weren't so ignorant... when I lived in San Diego in '96, the San Diego water district was working on a plan to recycle waste water and re-introduce it into the reservoir system. Some idiot news person got wind of it, dubbed it "Toilet to Tap", got the ignorant population riled up and the project canceled. Millions of gallons of freshwater, dumped into the ocean because of a bunch of ignorant people fueled by sensational news.

Guess what, San Diego is at the end (well, not quite - but darn close) of the water chain - all the states above dump treated wastewater and worse in above them already. I pointed this out to my coworkers who were busy congratulating themselves for killing that "stupid toilet to tap" idea. I warned them that in 5-10 years when they were in the middle of a drought they would wish they had that project and the recycled water it would have provided. Oh well, guess they are going to find out the hard way.

Well, I guess when the southwest finally runs out, there won't be much choice, eh? Things should be interesting over the next five years - the fun has just begun...