President Donald Trump’s dispute with California over water policy continued this week, with Trump claiming he’d sent military personnel into the state to “turn on the water.”
On his Truth Social media platform on Monday, Jan. 27, Trump wrote: “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.
“Enjoy the water, California,” Trump’s post said.
But within hours of that post, the California Department of Water Resources countered the president’s claim.
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“The military did not enter California. The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days. State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful,” the department said in a post on X.
Trump, who has long feuded with Gov. Gavin Newsom over how water is managed and routed to different parts of the state, has suggested that had California’s leaders allowed water to flow from up north down to southern parts of the state, the massive destruction left by the wildfires that tore through Los Angeles County this month could have been prevented.
Last week, the president said all California has to do is “turn the valve … coming back from and down from the Pacific Northwest.”
But water experts refute Trump’s claims.
No “valve” exists that routes water from the Pacific Northwest into California. Nor, experts say, is there a shortage of water in Southern California. On Friday, all major reservoirs in Southern California were above their historic average levels, with the largest, Diamond Valley, 97% full.
Brandon Goshi, water resource group manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said MWD amassed 3.8 million acre-feet of water in storage over the past two years during heavy rainfalls. One acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons — enough to meet the needs of about three families in Southern California annually.
In addition, MWD has about a two- to three-year supply of water stored in reservoirs and underground aquifers, Goshi said in a recent interview.
Trump’s Monday night post came three days after he traveled to Southern California to survey damage from the Palisades fire.
After the massive wildfires that began on Jan. 7, Newsom invited Trump to Southern California to see the scale of the devastation for himself. California’s Democratic governor urged the Republican president not to politicize the natural disaster.
When Trump landed at LAX on Friday, Newsom was there to greet him. The pair shook hands and pledged to work together to help the fire victims.
But before taking off for L.A., Trump told reporters that future federal aid for California should come only if the state establishes a voter ID law and changes its water management strategies.
Though Trump and Newsom were fairly cordial while taking questions from reporters at the airport, and Trump later told other elected officials representing the L.A. area during a roundtable meeting that “I’m going to give you everything you want,” his visit still left some wondering what aid will come.
