The federal government’s efforts to increase southward water flow in California follow a Trump executive order prompted by LA fire management issues.
(LifeSiteNews) — The federal government restarted water pumps in northern California that direct water south under direction from President Donald Trump.
“The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond,” Trump wrote Monday evening on Truth Social. The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!”
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced Tuesday morning that they had worked with Trump’s “administration and DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation” in California and congratulated them “for more than doubling the Federally pumped water flowing toward Southern California” in less than 72 hours.
Not long after Trump’s Truth Social post, California’s Department of Water Resources objected that “the military did not enter California,” and said “the federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days.”
One X user alluded to the fact that by “the military” Trump most likely meant the Army Corps of Engineers.
“I just want to confirm, @CA_DWR, are you saying the Army Corps of Engineers did not in fact restart their pumps? That some other federal agency did in their place?” the Progressing California X account wrote.
Many X users questioned why, despite the CADWR’s claim that the water pumps were “offline” for three days, water was not made available from northern California to southern California earlier, as fires ravaged the Pacific Palisades and other parts of greater Los Angeles.
Only days after taking office, Trump issued an executive order “to ensure adequate water resources in southern California” in light of the disastrous LA fires when, as the EO noted, “Almost immediately, firefighters were unable to fight the blaze due to dry hydrants, empty reservoirs, and inadequate water infrastructure.”
As the LA fires burned, Trump accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom of refusing to sign legislation that would have “allowed millions of gallons of water … to flow daily” into areas of California including its southern parts.
Indeed, only months ago, the state decided to release 114 billions of gallons of water into the ocean in order to protect Delta smelt fish instead of diverting it to areas that suffer from drought. At the time, Geoff Vanden Heuvel of the Milk Producers Council argued that California could “not afford” to waste water, given that, for example, that there is “only enough native water” in southern California “to support 5 to 10 percent of the population.”
