CBS: "Water Trump released from dams is rushing into a dry lakebed, not SoCal, and will likely go to waste [View all]

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Last edited Mon Feb 3, 2025, 10:05 PM - Edit history (2)

Trump described today how he went about releasing the water.

“We did it at a very rough way and I didn’t like to do it a rough way,” he said, chuckling.

Rachel Bitecofer @RachelBitecofer
CBS NEWS: “.. the water released from dams at Lake Kaweah and Lake Success is rushing into a dry lakebed in the Central Valley, where experts say it can't flow to Southern California and will likely go to waste.”


Following the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles in January, President Trump ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to release billions of gallons of water from two reservoirs in California's Central Valley, more than 100 miles away from the fire zones.

Mr. Trump had claimed that California withheld water supplies that could have made a difference in fighting the flames. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials disputed those claims.

"There is absolutely no connection between this water and the water needed for firefighting in L.A.," said Peter Gleick, a climate and hydrology expert. "There's no physical connection. There's no way to move the water from where it is to the Los Angeles basin."

Gleick, who co-founded the Pacific Institute, a research center in Oakland, says the move ignores the reality of water management in California.

"The farmers in the basin own the water and that water is stored in these dams in the winter, during the rainy season, so that farmers can use it in the very hot, long, dry summer season," he explained.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-california-water-order-los-angeles/


Adam Schiff @SenAdamSchiff 2h
Stupid. Ridiculous. Dangerous. Wasteful.

Words that only begin to describe the decision to waste billions of gallons of precious water in California.

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