Fresno county is where a lot of California water law was hashed out more than a hundred years ago. It was basically a desert with a river (or rivers) running through it and they built a series of irrigation canals. The history of those canals is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. Fresno county then turned lush and green. It is a modern Hanging Gardens of Babylon and I never hear about that. I only know because I spent a couple of years there while homeless and read some local history.
Following the creation of the canals, they began having problems with low lying areas turning into ponds and they began creating recharge ponds. In some years, they have actually raised the water table.
In addition to the history of the canals, there's a book called Salt Dreams that I highly recommend that is about the history of water stuff in Southern California, basically.
The Salton Sea is both kind of a manmade accident kept alive by agricultural runoff and a recurring periodic feature of the region historically. It would turn into a body of water for some reason and then slowly dry up over a period of years or decades because it wasn't getting recharged. The current version was predicted to dry up but hasn't because of recharge from agriculture.
If you are actually interested in understanding water issues in the state, I recommend those two books. I don't think this is hopeless.
Edit: Water for a thirsty land is the history of Fresno water development
https://www.worldcat.org/title/water-for-a-thirsty-land-the-...
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