Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

State should not letwater run off to ocean

Re. “Tiny fish hindering water capture,” Page A1, Jan. 14:

If what the Mercury News reported in a recent edition, that “94% of the water that flowed since New Year’s Eve through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta … has continued straight to the Pacific Ocean instead of being captured in the state’s reservoirs,” then we can officially be called the “Most Ignorant Generation” since the “Greatest Generation.”

It seems inconceivable that in the midst of a long-term drought, it makes sense to anyone that with a solution at hand (which may not be at hand next year) we literally toss that solution into the ocean. We argue the necessity of building more reservoirs to store water and yet we won’t fill the reservoirs we currently have. Something is fishy here.

Manny MoralesSan Jose

Sites Reservoir couldguard against floods

California needs to build the Sites Reservoir to store flood waters from the Sacramento River. It is needed both for water storage and protection from the types of catastrophic floods that inundated California in 1861 and 1605. The 1861 megaflood was caused by a 45-day atmospheric river.

The Sites off-stream reservoir is the most cost-effective way to protect against such storms. It would store 1.8 million acre-feet of water for 5 million homes and agricultural water needs. Govs. Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown strongly support the Sites project. While it costs $3.9 billion, it is less expensive per acre-foot than other proposals. Federal funds would be available from recently passed infrastructure bills to reduce the cost. Compared to spending $100 billon on high-speed rail, it’s a no-brainer to build the Sites Reservoir.

Ed KahlWoodside

Runoff is criticalto healthy waterways

Since the rains began we have heard and seen on TV, water from rivers rushing into the ocean. And every time the refrain is, “water wasted.”

But this is not the case.

Free and swift-flowing water is necessary for the health of our rivers and their wildlife. Even more important this rush of fresh water into the ocean is needed to protect the long-neglected health of the ocean.

We simply think of water from the homocentric “me” position. This clouds our judgment and how we manage this life source. Salmon habitat is affected, reservoirs fill with silt, rivers don’t get revitalized, silt does not get evenly distributed to replenish riparian habitats.

This rush of fresh water maintains the balance of the ocean’s salinity. It brings fresh nutrients into the ocean so that ocean plants and fauna can thrive and self-sustain.

John FrancisSan Jose

GOP should take chanceto expel George Santos

The George Santos story seems to get worse by the day. Not only did he lie about his credentials but he also may have violated campaign finance rules. He has the nerve to admit to these exaggerations but says he “did nothing unethical.” One wonders when lying became ethical.

The Democrats will rightly make a big deal about this, but the Republicans should seize the initiative and throw the bum out. They would gain stature by stepping up quickly and decisively.

Neil BonkeLos Altos

End unnecessary travelto save the planet

We were glad to see Paula Danz’s letter (“We must mitigate weather extremes,” Page A12, Jan. 15), which pointed out that extreme weather fluctuation is not a coincidence, that climate change has been wreaking havoc on our state, and that we need to stop emitting heat-trapping pollution. We know many people who already understand and totally agree with all of this -– yet they continue to plan vacations across the country or abroad. After all, they reason, they’ve saved the money for travel, and this trip or that trip has “always” been on their bucket list.

With each weather extreme we read about or experience, we hope that it will finally sink into our collective conscience that we have no correct choice but to halt all unnecessary travel. Fuel-reducing technologies aren’t enough; we can’t get out of this catastrophic mess we’ve created without immediate and large personal sacrifices.

Martha and Carl PlesciaSunnyvale

Let’s just stickwith standard time

I agree with Margaret Lawson. Keep Standard Time permanent (“If we change time, change to standard,” Page A7, Dec. 30).

The time zones were set up, basically, so that at the center of the time zones, at 12 o’clock noon, the sun is at its zenith, and rises and sets at 6 o’clock at the equinoxes. Twice a year we have to go through the trauma and expense of subtracting and adding an hour. Schools, organizations or any group can “save daylight” by starting earlier in the spring and summer months. Changing the clock does not save daylight.

Hawaii, most of Arizona, and now Mexico have permanent standard time. California, too, can have permanent standard time.

We are now standard time. Let’s keep it this way. Please, no more messing with the clocks.

Curtis GleasonPalo Alto