When President Trump asks the federal government to “maximise” water delivery in California, the Army Corps of Engineers commanders can quickly find two dams, where they can execute the order. And although authorities knew they couldn’t move water from Central Valley as Trump had hoped, they released billions of gallons anyway, according to newly released government documents anyway.
A February 3 memo by Colonel Chad Caldwell, the Corps’ Regional Commander, provides the most detailed explanation of how agents responded to Trump’s orders that direct federal agencies to increase water delivery in California. The document explains how legion officials suddenly decided to dump water from the dam in January, and how they encountered questions and opposition from local water managers and lawmakers.
“It was a Cavalier, a very risky decision, and it was a waste,” said Anne Willis of American Rivers, a regional director at California, a nonprofit environmental organization.
Willis, who worked for the Legion in 2007 and 2008, said there was no reason to throw away the water that farmers and cities depend on, and that unexpected releases of water like this could unleash floods and put people at risk.
“It’s amazing to de-drop and deliberately create a situation where it could have been the outcome,” Willis said.
In fact, many California water workers and experts agreed that the plan could be catastrophic. Local water managers pushed back when they learned of plans to release water from the dam, informing the agency that there is no need for water at this time of year and that a rushed surge in water could cause damage.
In response to concerns, federal officials have scaled down their initial plans and released significantly less water than originally intended, according to the memo.
The plan came into effect five days after Trump issued the order. On January 29th, the corps was “tasked to review water levels with existing authorities within our responsible area,” wrote Caldwell, who heads the agency’s Sacramento district.
Goal: Trump said he intends to increase the flow of water into the Los Angeles area after a devastating wildfire. However, the idea collided with an inconvenient reality. The LA Water Manager said he already had enough water on hand for the fire service. And federal officials charged with carrying out the president’s orders knew that the state, not the federal government, would manage aqueducts and pump stations that deliver water to cities in Southern California.
In his memo, Caldwell said staff at the Corps’ regional office were available to store water held at San Joaquin Valley Reservoir, Success Lake and Caware Lake, but “we were unable to deliver directly to Southern California.”
He said that moving water to cities in Southern California would require coordination with the state Department of Water Resources to pump water through a rarely used connection with the state’s water project aqueduct, saying, “Otherwise, farmers will rely on water that is normally stored by farmers who rely on water stored in reservoirs over the summer.
In a memo, Caldwell said he has the authority to release water under the flood control procedures. And then on January 30th, “Conversation,” Lieutenant General William “Butch” Graham Jr., commander Graham Jr. and commander of the South Pacific Division Colonel James Handura, said they would “release” the water from the two dams.
This memo was obtained by the Times on request under the Freedom of Information Act. It was first reported by the Washington Post.
Army officials have not responded publicly to these criticisms and declined to comment on the details of the memo. The title of this document is entitled Memorandum of Understanding Records “Providing the Authority or Assertion of Actions carried out” under Army regulations.
According to the memo, after the plan was decided, Caldwell began informing managers of other agencies about plans to release the water. At about 3:30pm on January 30th, he called two other key water managers, the California Department of Water Resources, Carla Nemes and Carl Stock, and the Regional Director of the Federal Reclamation Agency.
The corps team also contacted local “water masters,” including managers of agricultural irrigation districts that use water from the dam. Based on concerns raised by one of these officials, the corps stated that they “significantly reduced the initial estimated spill.”
Water managers in the area said they had removed the armor in the decision but persuaded federal officials to drain less water than originally planned.
Members of the legislature and state legislators representing the agricultural area near the dam were also involved.
Several lawmakers contacted the legion, according to the memo. They included Vince Von (R-Bakersfield), David Valadao (R-Hanford), Jim Costa (D-Fresno), and state legislative member Alexandra M. Macedo (R-Tulare). Caldwell pointed out in the memo that lawmakers “expressed concerns from their members about potential flooding on land downstream.”
The colonel said he had confirmed that water was being released. [President Trump’s] After consultations with the Executive Order and local water officials, “flows will be limited to safe levels that do not have downstream impacts.”
Willis, a memo for American Rivers, called Army Corps of Engineers officials “troubling that they didn’t feel they could exercise their discretion to delay the release until the water was actually used.
On the evening of January 30th, Army officials opened the gates and began releasing the flow from Schafer Dam and Terminus Dam, sending water through river channels near Porterville and Visalia. The flow increased in the middle of the night.
By that time, local officials in Tulea County were about to prepare. Dennis England, the county authorities who manage the local flood control district, said he knew about plans to release water in an email early on January 30th, and the sudden notices were on alert.
“It was very unusual and very worrying,” England said in an interview. “That seemed very unnecessary.”
England said people were in the sudden prospect of flooding surges nearly two years ago as a severe storm caused massive flooding in the same area, soaking thousands of acres of farmland and reforming long, dry Lake Tulare.
“It caused a bit of anxiety due to the events of the storm in March 2023,” England said. During these storms, floods surged into the Lake Tulare basin, sinking roads, smashing through levees, soaking farmland, where workers rushed to move equipment up high ground.
Bank of Lake Tulare on May 2, 2023.
(Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times)
She said she was confused by the decision “makes no meaning.”
“We were scratching our heads. “What’s going on here?” England said. Everyone knew that the water would not be transported to LA, so she said, “it’s just causing problems locally.”
Luckily, she said those who run the water agency responded quickly. They managed to catch water from the swollen Kawia and Tulle rivers, and flowed into the basin where the water permeated underground.
The manager of the Agricultural Water District said it used water to replenish the area’s groundwater. “There was no waste,” said Aaron Fukuda, general manager of the Tulare Irrigation District.
However, if the leaders of local institutions were not acting promptly, England said the outcome could have been flooded with farmland.
“They were able to use that water, and that’s great news,” she said. “A lot of people scrambled to react, and it didn’t have to happen that way.”
On January 31, Trump posted a photo of the water flowing from one of the dams, declaring “a beautiful stream of water that just opened in California.” He called it “a long battle victory!” He did not mention where the water went.
On the same day, the corps reduced flow from both dams after “further coordination” with local water managers “to minimize the risk of downstream impacts.”
Then, on February 2nd, the excellent Caldwell and his team instructed to reduce the flow from the dam to a normal low level.
Trump has said on social media that within three days, 5.2 billion gallons of water will be released from the dam. However, Caldwell said in a note that by the time the surgery was finished, the total amount released was about 2.5 billion gallons.
Congressional Democrats have strongly criticized the Legion for handling water release. Commander Graham said that Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) was burned about what happened at a monitoring hearing last month, and struggled to answer questions about the decision, saying, “I don’t know what happened to the water.”
Levin and his fellow Democrats. Jared Huffman of San Rafael and Laura Friedman of Glendale, in a letter this week to Defense Secretary Pete Hegses and Interior Secretary Doug Burgham, who said he was extremely concerned about “politically motivated, uncoordinated, unplanned, and an opark water release.”
They said the water flowed into arid lake basin “which sacrificed important resources in drought-prone conditions,” and that water should have been saved in the reservoirs for use when needed in the summer. “It’s important that decisions related to water management be transparent and properly coordinated,” the lawmaker wrote.
Senator Alex Padilla also criticised the unplanned water release, saying that close coordination must be made with local officials, safety officials and agricultural water users to reduce the risk of flooding, and that “signs residents to the downstream risks will be given significantly inadequate notices.”
The Trump administration has also been criticised for ordering fire and takeovers at other dams and landfill agencies in California, which operate water infrastructure.
Employees recently said the department, which employs around 1,000 people in the state, is losing around 100 employees due to layoffs and acquisitions. But after Central Valley water agency managers warned that such a significant cut would put an agency’s ability to safely and reliably supply water, 12 of those employees were already fired and those who were not authorized to discuss public debates, each of whom were recovered or held, respectively.
“We are grateful for the move to recover some of the staff cuts reported at the California Department of Landfill,” Nemeth, the state’s top water officer, said in an email. “These staff are necessary to ensure that California’s water supply systems are safe and effective.”
Nemeth’s division confirmed it received a “course call” from the Army Corps of Engineers on January 30th, when the release from the dam began.
But Nemeth has since said that the agency has not yet seen any details from the federal government about how it will implement the president’s executive order on water management in California.
Continuing changes to the Trump administration in water management agencies occur when California’s water supply is in relatively good condition. The Sierra Nevada snowmen remain smaller than average. However, the state’s main reservoir level is 112% of its historic average, with the state’s overall precipitation being roughly average for this period.
Times staff writer Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.
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