2.2 billion gallons of water flowed out of California reservoirs because of Trump’s order to open dams
Trump celebrated the move in posts to Truth Social post on Friday and Sunday, declaring, “the water is flowing in California,” and adding the water was “heading to farmers throughout the State, and to Los Angeles.”
There are two major problems, water experts said: The newly released water will not flow to Los Angeles, and it is being wasted by being released during the wet winter season.
“They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,” said Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization the Pacific Institute. “This puts agriculture at risk of insufficient water during the summer months.”
On Friday, Trump posted that 1.6 billion gallons was being released adding that “in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons.”
About 2.2 billion gallons were released from Friday to Sunday, local water districts said in a statement released Monday. That water was discharged into the dry lakebed of Tulare Lake, according to a letter from Sen. Alex Padilla to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.