On Trump’s orders, the offers released the water from two California dams

The body of American army engineers has considerably increased the amount of water flowing from two dams in the county of Tulare, sending massive flows on the river canals to the agricultural land of the San Joaquin valley.

The federal files show that the water outlets from the Terminus dam in Lake Kawah and the Schafer dam in the success of the lake jumped early Friday morning.

The sudden increase occurred four days after President Trump declared on social networks that the US military had “entered” in California and “lit the water”. Trump also swore during a visit to Los Angeles last week to “open valves and pumps” in California to deliver more water.

According to federal data, the flow of the terminal dam in the Kawah river near Visalia went from 57 cubic feet per second to more than 1,500 Friday morning. The flow of the success of the lake near Porterville in the Tule river went from 105 cubic feet per second to 990.

The body of army engineers “leads controlled water versions” of the two dams, said Tyler Stalker, spokesperson for the body in Sacramento. “The action is coordinated with local officials. The versions are the capacity of the waterways downstream. »»

Answering questions about the reasons for the sudden increase in water flow, Gene Pawlik, spokesperson for the body’s headquarters in Washington, said in an email that the action was “in accordance with the management” in the Recent executive order of Trump to promulgate “emergency measures to provide water resources” in California.

Pawlik said that the army’s body released water from the dams “to make sure that California has water available to respond to forest fires”. It was not immediately clear how or where the federal government intends to transport water.

Trump, meanwhile, shared a photo on X of water water with a dam, saying: “Photo of a beautiful flow of water that I just opened in California.”

“Today, 1.6 billion gallons and, in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons. Everyone should be happy with this long fighting victory! “Wrote Trump. “I only want them to listen to me six years ago – there would have been no fire!”

The president sought to link the local water supply problems during the Los Angeles County Fire Storms, such as the fire terminals that have dried, with his calls for the development of the management of the water elsewhere in the state. But state representatives and water experts qualified inaccurate comments: regional tanks in southern California are at record levels, and more water from Northern California would not have assigned the response to The fire.

Water has been released from dams like the first of the two storms in the atmospheric river approaching brought Snow and rain to California.

Dam managers in California sometimes release water before large storms to make room in tanks for more runoff. But comments from the Federal Agency on Trump’s decree suggest that this case was different.

State officials were not part of decision -making “to release water from federal tanks, said Karla Nemeth, director of California Department of Water Resources.

“We traditionally have a high degree of coordination at the operational level, which was really not part of this decision,” said Nemeth.

The two tanks are used to hold supplies for agricultural irrigation districts. Nemeth noted that winter is not the irrigation season for farms, which require more supplies to cultivate crops during the summer months, “so there is no request” for the Water in the San Joaquin valley at present.

The dams are also used to regulate the rhythm of flood waters which could otherwise affect the downstream areas, said Nemeth. During historical storms in 2023, she said, the state sought to work with local landowners for Capture flood flows As far as possible to reconstruct the groundwater.

“I really can’t talk about the body’s decision-making process to make this release for the moment,” she said.

It was not clear where federal officials intended to send the water which was released from the dams.

Local water officials said they were caught up in the federal government’s plans on Thursday. Dan Vink, a water consultant who was previously Managing Director of the Lower Tule River irrigation district, described the situation as “very unprecedented”.

Vink said that local water officials heard on Thursday afternoon that the army’s body planned to “move from a fairly nominal release to Canal’s capacity in two hours”.

A release of this magnitude, he said, would normally be coordinated days in advance, in part because farmers could have expensive agricultural equipment placed near the banks. There are also homeless camps near certain banks, and officials would like to make sure that people were away and not in danger before freeing so much water.

On Thursday, local water officials communicated their concerns to army body officials, who agreed to release less water than originally planned and delay the versions until Friday, said Vink .

Aaron Fukuda, director general of the Tulare irrigation district, told SJV Water information site that these flooding versions were done with previous notification and coordination. “I am doing these 18 years and I have never seen something like that,” he said.

Peter Gleick, a water scientist and principal researcher at the Pacific Institute, said that barrage managers generally only release large quantities of water in winter when major storms created the need to make room for large runoff. But southern California was very dry and the snowy mantle in the south of Sierra remains well below the average, so “nothing indicates that this is why these versions took place.”

“In addition, when these types of versions occur, they are still in consultation with local and state agencies,” said Gleick.

“I don’t know where this water is going, but it’s not the bad time of the year to release the water from these tanks. It is of vital importance that we fill our tanks during the rainy season, so water is available for farms and cities later in summer, “said Gleick. “I think it is very strange and it is worrying that after decades of local, state and federal careful coordination, some federal agencies are beginning to unilaterally manipulate the water supply of California.”

Vink accepted, saying that, given how dry it was in the region this winter, it was not necessary to make such a release. In fact, he said, farmers were on this water to be available for summer irrigation.

“It will hurt farmers,” said Vink. “This eliminates water from their summer irrigation portfolio.”

Democratic senator Alex Padilla criticized the administration’s decision and asked for answers.

“The unexpected water versions require close coordination with local managers and safety personnel, as well as land users downstream, in order to reduce the risk of flooding for communities and farms,” ​​said declared Padilla in a letter To the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. “Based on the urgent concerns that I heard from my voters, as well as recent reports, it seems that a seriously insufficient notification has been given, recklessly putting residents downstream.”

Padilla asked Hegseth several questions to HegSeth, notably which has made the decision, how many notice in advance has been given to irrigation districts and local managers, and what impact the versions will have on communities and landowners. He also asked: “If the objective of these versions is to help fight forest fires in the County of Los Angeles (which are already almost entirely contained), what is the plan to transport this water to Los Angeles Rather than letting water just be discharged in Tulare Lac where it evaporates? »»

Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom has taken other measures to adjust the way the state manages water. Friday, with two storms, Newsom signed an executive decree which aims to divert and store more runoff from storms.

The order orders the Ministry of Water Resources and other State agencies to maximize the storage and capture of rivers water to recharge groundwater and stimulate tanks such as the San Luis reservoir, located to the south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta river.

“It is more important than ever that we maximize every opportunity to recharge our underground water supplies,” said Newsom.

“We are also preparing to use each last drop to increase our water supply for state communities and farms,” ​​said Newsom. “By storing these storms, we create a literal rainy day fund to help us get back multi -year drought And prepare for our warmer and drier future. »»