Water expert William Kahrl told area residents to “stop joking around” Friday as part of an extended series on the California drought, on the serious challenges Fresno State as well as the entire nation will face if there is not a harder statewide push for change.

“I believe providing the public with clean water is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Kahrl said.

Kahrl is an award-winning editor of “The California Water Atlas” and author of “Water and Power.” He served as an adviser to all three of the largest public water districts in California.

During his speech, Kahrl said that people will constantly argue with one another on how to solve water problems, pointing fingers instead of moving toward creating a viable solution for all. He said that in the past, the conflict was perceived as people versus fish. Now, the conflict is perceived as people versus trees ”” specifically almond trees.

Kahrl asked five simple questions to resolve the water crisis, the first addressing the problem and how it was caused.

“We face a shortage, because we deserve it,” Kahrl said in relation to the California Delta being destroyed.

He said that if people cannot begin to see the problem, then they cannot begin to give a solution.

Kahrl spoke about the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, supported by Gov. Jerry Brown and President Barack Obama’s administrations, in what he called an underdeveloped attempt which has taken nine years and has had little effect thus far.

The plan hopes to install two underground tunnels to send water from the Sacramento River around the Delta.

Nine years were devoted to making a proposal that would fix the water system and heal the damages the Delta faced, Kahrl said, yet there is still no project.

“Residents of the Delta will certainly be affected,” Kahrl said, and 25 million people in the Delta vicinity would be affected.

He said the grave concern would be the residents in the Bay Area rising up to destroy the project.

Kahrl also asked the audience who the deciding factor will be. Would it be the governor, the California Legislature or Congress? Kahrl said that the best chance the state has on making progress would be through support from Congress.

The last question Kahrl posed was what difference this will make in communities. ­Kahrl said there is only one choice: to do something or do nothing and continue to lose water to supply smaller towns to billions of dollars in crops.

“If we do nothing, the future is perfectly predictable,” Kahrl said.

Anthony Horan of the Housatonic Valley Association works on similar water-wise planning and the economic effects of water in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He said he came to the talk to hear more about Valley efforts.

“I listen with a certain passion, because years ago I worked on this Valley,” Horan said.

The battle between big farming and homeowners continues, Kahrl said, but no resolution can come about until those groups start coming together and working with one another toward a viable solution.