A Trump administration plan to pump more water to Central Valley farmlands is facing vehement opposition from Democratic members of Congress who represent the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and the Bay Area.
A group of seven legislators led by Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) said pumping more water will threaten the availability of water for many Californians, disrupt longstanding state-federal cooperation and put the Delta’s native fish at risk.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s plan “prioritizes partisan politics over California’s communities and farmers,” Garamendi said.
“Pumping even more water out of the Delta in the middle of worsening droughts isn’t just reckless,” he said. “It threatens the livelihoods of the people who live and work here, undermines the region’s fragile ecosystems, and jeopardizes the long-term health of our state’s water infrastructure.”
Federal officials have said the changes, adopted this month following an order by President Trump earlier this year, represent an effort to balance the needs of communities, farms and ecosystems.
Large agricultural water agencies, such as Westlands Water District, are supporting the Trump administration plan. Some of the valley’s farmers, who grow crops including pistachios, almonds, grapes and tomatoes, have long condemned state environmental rules as harmful and called for sending more water flowing in aqueducts.
The Bureau of Reclamation said in a summary of the plan, called Action 5, that the changes “are not expected to result in any significant negative effects to the environment,” and will allow California’s two major water systems — the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project — to deliver more water from the Delta south to farming areas and cities.
But the Newsom administration criticized the plan, warning that it could threaten fish and reduce the amount of water available for millions of people in other parts of the state.
“All Californians … deserve a water supply plan that prioritizes solutions over partisan games,” Garamendi and six other Democratic lawmakers said in a letter to Scott Cameron, the Bureau of Reclamation’s acting commissioner.
The group — which included Reps. Ami Bera, Mark DeSaulnier, Josh Harder, Jared Huffman, Doris Matsui and Mike Thompson — said they believe the changes will “endanger California’s water supply, disrupt coordinated operations between state and federal agencies, and weaken environmental protections.”
The legislators said “the long-term sustainability of the Delta’s fresh water supply and ecosystem depends on careful, scientifically backed coordination” between the state and federal water systems, and that pumping more into the aqueducts of the Central Valley Project could force the State Water Project to reduce water exports.
“Not only will this endanger water supply for millions of Californians who rely on the State Water Project, but it will also create uncertainty for the farmers that depend on Delta water,” they said.
Environmental and fishing groups also oppose the plan, saying the federal government is slashing protections for salmon and other fish that are already struggling.
In recent years, the pumping of water has taken a toll on the ecosystem of the Delta and San Francisco Bay. Populations of Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, Delta smelt and other species have been declining.
Trump similarly tried to alter California water regulations and policies during his first term. But when his administration adopted water rules that weakened environmental protections in the Delta, California and conservation groups successfully challenged the changes in court.
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