Stockton’s downtown waterfront faces an annual takeover by invasive water hyacinth, a fast-growing plant that can blanket thousands of square feet of water in a single season. Deemed “hopeless” by PBS in 2015, the plant returns each year to San Joaquin County waterways, including McLeod Lake in Stockton,the Calaveras River and the broader Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Known as “the fastest-growing plant in the world,” a single hyacinth can wreak massive ecological and economic damage, making it one of California’s most destructive invasive species. Unlike other invasive plants, experts say eradication is nearly impossible, leaving ongoing control as the only viable solution.