President Trump's sudden order to release water from two California dams sparked confusion and criticism, as the move seemed to prioritize political optics over water management needs.
Days after President Trump surprised some of his most fervent supporters in California's San Joaquin Valley by ordering the Army Corps of Engineers to abruptly release water from two dams, many in the region and beyond remained baffled. Acting on instructions from Washington, the corps allowed irrigation water to flow down river channels for three consecutive days, into the intricate network of engineered waterways that fan out among the farm fields of the San Joaquin Valley.
The water, coursing from rivers to canals to irrigation ditches, eventually made its way to retention basins, where it seeped into the ground, replenishing groundwater reserves. 'It's been recharged to the ground,' said Tom Barcellos, president of the Lower Tule River Irrigation District and a dairyman and farmer. That sounds positive, except farmers in parts of the San Joaquin Valley typically rely on water from these two dams to irrigate their crops during the summer months. In other words, releasing water at this time of year, when agriculture doesn't usually require it, means that growers are likely to have less water stored in the reservoirs this summer, during a year that has been among the driest on record for the area. 'It would have been better utilized if we could keep it there and use it this summer for irrigation,' Barcellos said.The loss of that water — equivalent to about two days of maximum water use during the summer irrigation season — amounted to 'not a lot of harm, not a big foul,' he said. However, the sudden, unplanned release of water from the dams has drawn criticism from some residents, water managers, and members of Congress, who argue that the unusual discharge of water appears to have been intended as a political statement — to demonstrate that Trump has the authority to direct federal dams or pumps to send more water flowing as he commands. 'These kinds of shenanigans, they hurt smaller farmers,' said Dezaraye Bagalayos, a local water activist. Small growers are already 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.'On Friday, Trump had directed the Army Corps of Engineers to send water streaming from Terminus Dam into the Kaweah River near Visalia and from Schafer Dam into the Tule River near Porterville. The high flows continued for a day, then lessened somewhat, and ended Sunday. The action occurred after Trump’s visit to fire-devastated Los Angeles, when he pledged to 'open up the valves' to bring the region more water — even though reservoirs that supply Southern California’s cities were at a high level. During a visit to one of the dams, Trump declared it was 'beautiful water flow that I just opened in California.' The Army Corps of Engineers stated that the action was 'consistent with the direction' in Trump’s executive order. Neither Trump nor the Army Corps of Engineers provided details about where the water was intended to go. But water released from the two dams serves agriculture in the eastern San Joaquin Valley. It typically does not reach the Los Angeles area, which depends instead on supplies delivered from the aqueducts of the State Water Project on the other side of the valley. The water releases lowered the levels of the two reservoirs: Lake Success, near Porterville, had been about 20% full. It fell to 18%. Lake Kaweah, near Visalia, was roughly 21% full and similarly dropped to 19% of capacity over the weekend. Federal records show that more than 2 billion gallons were released from the reservoirs over three days. Peter Gleick, a water scientist and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, said that 'for a political photo op and a social media post, the Trump administration has thrown away billions of gallons of California water.' He said the water will not reach any city, 'not be used or usable for firefighting, not be used by farmers since this isn’t the irrigation season, and won’t be saved for the dry season, which is coming.' 'After Trump issued his executive order to do something about California’s water, it appears that Army Corps officials scrambled to respond,' Gleick said. 'California’s water system is very delicately balanced among all of the competing interests, and this episode shows that even slight interference in that system can cause chaos.'Local water managers said they were caught off guard Thursday. Dan Vink, a water consultant who previously served as general manager of the Lower Tule River Irrigation District, called the situation 'extremely unprecedented.' A release of that magnitude, Vink said, would normally be coordinated days in advance
CALIFORNIA WATER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY WATER MANAGEMENT AGRICULTURE
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