President Trump's order to release billions of gallons of water from California reservoirs has drawn criticism for potentially harming local farmers and being ineffective in addressing wildfire concerns.
President Donald Trump directed the Army Corps of Engineers to release billions of gallons of water from two reservoirs in California's Central Valley over 100 miles from the wildfire zones, a decision that has stunned residents. Newsweek reached out to California Governor Gavin Newsom's office via email for comment.
This move comes after water shortages were allegedly reported to have hampered firefighting efforts in Los Angeles during the devastating wildfires, a claim that state officials deny, arguing that the hydrants went dry because of the high local demand. Since then, Trump has been highly critical of California authorities, calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to resign and dubbing him 'Newscum' on social media, and falsely blaming water shortages during the response on California's water management policies. He's also threatened to withhold disaster aid unless California goes along with his moves to deliver more water.Trump's latest action, which overrides California's water policies, could hit local farmers hard. After an executive order signed by Trump last week, 2.2 billion gallons of water in two reservoirs in the southern Sierra Nevada's foothills were released on Friday. That water was discharged into the dry lake bed of Tulare Lake in the San Joaquin Valley, according to a letter from Senator Alex Padilla to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It happened four days after President Trump said on social media that the U.S. military had 'entered' California and 'TURNED ON THE WATER.' State authorities denied this at the time. During a visit to Los Angeles last week, Trump also vowed to 'open up the valves and pumps' in California to deliver more water. Experts and local farmers have argued that the newly released water is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season. These kinds of shenanigans, they hurt smaller farmers,' Dezaraye Bagalayos, a local water activist, told the Los Angeles Times. Small growers have already been struggling, and the release of water from the dams means they will have less when they need it, Bagalayos said. 'The last thing in the world California water management needs is somebody like Trump calling shots when he doesn't know how anything works,' Bagalayos said. 'It's making an already hard situation very, very difficult. We don't have a lot of wiggle room in the state of California to be messing around with our water supply like this.' The two reservoirs hold supplies for agricultural irrigation districts, meaning San Joaquin Valley farmers rely on the dams for summer irrigation. Releasing water now when it's not needed means less will be available during one of the area's driest years on record. Meanwhile, the water releases caused a slight drop in reservoir levels. Lake Success, near Porterville, decreased from about 20 percent full to 18 percent, while Lake Kaweah, near Visalia, fell from roughly 21 percent to 19 percent of capacity over the weekend. Tom Barcellos, president of the Lower Tule River Irrigation District and a dairyman and farmer, also expressed anger at Trump's order, telling the Los Angeles Times: 'It would have been better utilized if we could keep it there and use it this summer for irrigation.' 'I believe someone in D.C. got a little overzealous,' he said. Experts have also argued that the water will not flow to Los Angeles and, therefore, won't help extinguish the wildfires. Climate and hydrology expert Peter Gleick told CBS: 'There is absolutely no connection between this water and the water needed for firefighting in L.A. There's no physical connection. There's no way to move the water from where it is to the Los Angeles basin.' Laura Ramos, interim director of research and education at the California Water Institute at California State University, Fresno, told the Los Angeles Times: 'If the purpose was to help with the fires in Southern California, we do not believe that it will because that's not where that water goes.' However, Matt Hurley, general manager of the McMullin Area Groundwater Sustainability Agency, told the Los Angeles Times that while the order won't help the Los Angeles fires, it may still have a positive impact. Los Angeles heavily relies on groundwater and winter precipitation stored in state reservoirs to irrigate crops. 'Will it help L.A.'s fire? No, absolutely not. But it will help groundwater,' Hurley said. 'From a groundwater manager's point of view, getting any water in the ground is better than nothing.' Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization at the Pacific Institute, told CNN: 'They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer. This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.' 'This release is extremely concerning,' Cooley added. 'It's providing zero benefit and putting California farmers at risk of water supply constraints in the coming months.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WATER MANAGEMENT FARMERS ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
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