President Trump wasted water meant to help California farmers in hot summer | Opinion
Fruit and nut crops grown in Tulare County in 2023 were worth more than $4 billion in gross revenues. The single-largest commodity produced in the county that year was milk, with dairies earning more than $2 billion in sales.
Adding up the more than 150 different agricultural products from that year, Tulare County farmers posted nearly $8 billion in total production values.
Yet there is one priceless commodity those farmers and livestock producers could not go without: Water.
So it is shocking that President Trump just ordered more than 2 billion gallons of water to be released from two lakes in Tulare County, ostensibly to help Los Angeles fight its wildfires, in the middle of winter when farmers’ water needs are low.
The water was being held behind federal dams at Lake Kaweah east of Visalia and Success Lake near Porterville. As reported by Lois Henry of the website SJV Water, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last Thursday announced with no forewarning that it was starting to release water downstream of those lakes.
By the time those releases ended on Sunday, water had flowed at maximum levels in rivers and canals and into retention basins, including Tulare Lake south of Hanford. The water soaked into the ground in a process called recharge. Replenishing ground water supplies is beneficial to farmers, who can then pump out the water when it is needed.
But the water that had been stored in the lakes was intended to help farmers in the summer, when San Joaquin Valley temperatures soar into the 100s and growers are busy maturing crops toward harvest.
Henry interviewed Dan Vink, a water manager in Tulare County, about the unexpected releases. “A decision to take summer water from local farmers and dump it out of these reservoirs shows a complete lack of understanding of how the system works and sets a very dangerous precedent,” Vink told her.
“This decision was clearly made by someone with no understanding of the system or the impacts that come from knee-jerk political actions.”
Trump and California’s water systems
A few weeks ago I wrote about Trump criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom for not letting Northern California water flow to Los Angeles to fight the fires. At that time, I explained how Southern California’s reservoirs were all full and there was no shortage of water. Trump did not seem to understand how the Santa Ana winds created fire conditions that overwhelmed firefighters and caused hydrants to empty.
In a social media post on X last Friday, Trump showed a photo of an unnamed river and boasted “Photo of beautiful water flow that I just opened in California.” He goes on to say if his orders to change operations of the water systems in California had been followed six years ago when he was first president, “ there would have been no fire!”
Except, he is wrong.
The federal system of waterworks in California — the Central Valley Project — does not directly connect to Los Angeles. Southern California gets water from the State Water Project, which the federal government does not control.
The easiest way to direct CVP water into the state’s aqueduct is from the San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos — not from lakes in Tulare County, more than a hundred miles south.
Besides, every drop of CVP water is already spoken for, awaiting other farmers. It does not belong to President Trump. Supplies are held by myriad irrigation districts who deliver water to individual farms that have paid for their irrigation allotments.
Surely Trump, as a businessman, should respect that fact.
Education needed
The laws, regulations and engineering for California’s water systems are complex. It is up to the experts at the Corps and the federal Bureau of Reclamation to help educate the president on how everything is designed to work.
San Joaquin Valley farmers have a teaching opportunity, too. They can school Trump on where the water goes and how it is used.
This winter has been especially dry in the southern Sierra. Unless new storms pile up snow in the mountains, the spring runoff into lakes like Kaweah and Success will be likely be below normal, meaning less storage in lakes for farmers to use in June, July and August, when they really need it.
Here is hoping Trump’s releasing water in the winter, when the need is lowest, was a one-time occurrence.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 12:59 PM with the headline "President Trump wasted water meant to help California farmers in hot summer | Opinion."