Acting on an order from President Trump, the federal government on Thursday announced plans to pump more water to Central Valley farmlands from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a unilateral action that California officials warned could threaten fish and reduce the amount of water available for millions of people in other parts of the state.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said in a statement that its update of the operation plan for the federally operated Central Valley Project aims to “maximize water deliveries across California while maintaining protections for endangered fish species.” The revised plan will increase water deliveries to farmlands and communities across the San Joaquin Valley.
A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom strongly criticized the plan.
“The Trump administration is putting politics over people — catering to big donors instead of doing what’s right for Californians,” Tara Gallegos said.
With the decision finalized, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the federal government was “delivering on the promise” of Trump’s executive order earlier this year “to strengthen California’s water resilience.”
Some of California’s largest agricultural water districts supported the decision.
Allison Febbo, general manager of Westlands Water District, said the changes “will help ensure that our growers have the water they need to support local communities and the nation’s food supply, while also protecting California’s wildlife.”
Federico Barajas, executive director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, said the action should bring an estimated 250,000 to 400,000 acre-feet of additional water annually to the region. For comparison, the entire city of Los Angeles uses nearly 500,000 acre-feet annually.
Barajas said the additional water was “critical to the economic and social fabric of the San Joaquin Valley, particularly as groundwater supplies become less accessible” because of pending limits on groundwater pumping.
Last month, three state agencies warned in letters to the Trump administration that pumping more water into the federal aqueducts would have significant negative consequences for fish in the Delta.
In a summary document, however, the Bureau of Reclamation said the changes “are not expected to result in any significant negative effects to the environment or species listed under the Endangered Species Act.”
The Delta is the central hub of California’s water systems, and 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 in recent years.
Officials at the California Department of Water Resources have said the increase in federal pumping also could force reductions in what the state can deliver via the other main water system, the State Water Project, which sends water from the Delta to Southern California’s cities.
The Trump administration’s plan also could upend the cooperation between state and federal water agencies that has been the norm for decades.
“As per usual, the emperor is left with no clothes, pushing for an outcome that disregards science and undermines our ability to protect the water supply for people, farms and the environment,” Gallegos said of Trump’s approach to the issue.
Environmental and fishing groups also have condemned Trump’s plan to take more water from the Delta, saying it effectively slashes environmental protections for salmon and other fish that are already struggling.
Karla Nemeth, director of the Water Resources Department, said “close coordination between California’s two main water systems, the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, is crucial to protecting water supply, fish and wildlife, and water quality.”
Nemeth said in a written statement that the Bureau of Reclamation’s changes to its operation of reservoirs, canals and pumping plants this winter and spring “could compromise the state’s ability to deliver water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.”
However, as the federal government changes its operations, she said the state agency “will do its best to make sure both projects are operating in concert to the benefit of all of California.”
The Bureau of Reclamation contends that its revised plan — called Action 5 — should allow both the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project to increase water deliveries.
Andrea Travnicek, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science, said it “represents a forward-looking approach to water management that balances the needs of California’s communities, agriculture, and ecosystems.”
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.
That cleared the way last year for the Biden administration, working together with Newsom’s administration, to set new rules for operating California’s main water delivery systems, which are among the largest in the world.
That long-term operation plan was adopted in December. The Bureau of Reclamation said its decision now replaces that previous plan.
The State Water Resources Control Board said the Trump administration’s decision abandons decades of cooperative efforts among state and federal agencies to “improve watershed conditions,” and that it is “difficult to assess the full impact” because the changes were not adequately analyzed.
Chuck Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said many measures in the federal plan “are vague, unclear, impossible to implement, or not based in best available science.”
“We believe this proposal provides less protection for species than previous Reclamation proposals supported by both Republican and Democratic administrations,” he said. “The measures in Action 5 run counter to the state’s efforts to bolster commercial and recreational fishing by supporting healthy populations of Chinook salmon — harming the California communities that rely on salmon for their livelihood.”
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