Trump admin making good on promise to send more water to California farms

The Trump administration is making good on a promise to send more water to California farmers in the state’s crop-rich Central Valley.The US Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday announced a new plan for operating the Central Valley Project, a vast system of pumps, dams and canals that direct water southward from the state’s wetter north.It follows an executive order President Donald Trump signed in January calling for more water to flow to farmers, arguing the state was wasting the precious resource in the name of protecting endangered fish species.Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said the plan will help the federal government “strengthen California’s water resilience.” It takes effect Friday.But California officials and environmental groups blasted the move, saying sending significantly more water to farmlands could threaten water delivery to the rest of the state and would harm salmon and other fish.Most of the state’s water is in the north, but most of its people are in the south.The federally-managed Central Valley Project works in tandem with the state-managed State Water Project, which sends water to cities that supply 27 million Californians.

The systems transport water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an estuary that provides critical habitat to fish and wildlife including salmon and the delta smelt.It is important for the two systems to work together, Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said in a statement.She warned the Trump administration’s plan could limit the state’s ability to send water to cities and farmers.

That is because the state could be required to devote more water to species protection if the federal project sends more to farms.Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, executive director at Restore the Delta, said pumping more water out would result in more Delta smelt and juvenile salmon dying from getting stuck in the pumping system, and once the temperature warms, harmful algae bloo...