LETTER: California, rainfall and protecting species

With all the articles about water shortages, I have not seen anything about California releasing water from reservoirs to benefit the delta smelt and the Chinook salmon. I appreciate the need to try to avoid having these species go extinct, but it would be interesting to know how many gallons of water are released into the Pacific, and how effective these releases are in maintaining the smelt and salmon populations, so we could have an informed discussion of the costs and benefits of the policy. If California could use the water it gets from rain more efficiently, it would leave more water available for other states that rely on the Colorado River.