The Los Angeles County wildfires triggered a rant from President-elect , who blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom for depriving Southern California of water. Trump today repeated a claim he has made in the past, that state efforts 鈥渢o protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt鈥� have caused pain and hardship in California.
鈥淕overnor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,鈥� Trump wrote today on his social media site Truth Social.
Newsom鈥檚 office responded with a sharp rebuke and a reality check.
鈥淭here is no such document as the water restoration declaration 鈥� that is pure fiction,鈥� Newsom communications director Izzy Gardon said in a written statement. 鈥淭he Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.鈥�
The fires burning in Los Angeles County were fanned by severe winds and . But sending more water south from the Bay-Delta would have done nothing to prevent them or extinguish them.
Mark Gold, water scarcity director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said Trump鈥檚 comments do not reflect California鈥檚 complex water supply systems and just fan flames of political discontent.
鈥淭ying Bay-Delta management into devastating wildfires that have cost people鈥檚 lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible, and it鈥檚 happening at a time when the Metropolitan Water District has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a matter of having enough water coming from Northern California to put out a fire. It鈥檚 about the continued devastating impacts of a changing climate.鈥�
Trump appeared to be referring to water imported south from the Bay-Delta, fed by Northern California rivers and snowmelt. But most Los Angeles water does not come from Northern California. It comes via the city鈥檚 that runs from the Owens Valley east of the Sierra Nevada, not the Delta, as well as groundwater. The city also imports water from the Metropolitan Water District, which relays water from the Colorado River and Delta to numerous local agencies. The city was the main motivating force for the building of the Colorado River Aqueduct in the 1930s.
In December, the Biden administration and state officials agreed to a for the Delta water projects that effectively replaced rules produced by the first Trump administration in 2019 鈥� an action that may have sparked Trump鈥檚 latest social media post.
The new rules adjust water allocations for cities and farms and attempt to restore depleted populations of salmon and other fish, including the endangered Delta smelt. Some Central Valley farmers and Southern California cities will see more water and have endorsed the plan, while some farmers will get less. from the Delta to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California via the State Water Project increase under the new plan.
CalMatters reporter Alexei Koseff contributed to this story.