Trump Released Billions of Gallons of ‘Beautiful Water’ to Help Put Out the California Wildfires. Experts Say It’s a Dangerous Move

  • The president has pointed to the fire hydrants running dry in Los Angeles as an example of the problem.

  • Experts say releasing the water was dangerous and could harm farmers next year.

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Jody Serrano

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief at Xataka On. Before joining Webedia, I was a tech reporter at Gizmodo and The Messenger. In recent years, I've been especially interested in Twitch, streamers, and Internet culture. LinkedIn

Considering how President Donald Trump is obsessed with water flow, it’s no surprise that he would blame the destructive California wildfires on the purported lack of available water in the state.

In particular, the president took issue with the fire hydrants in Los Angeles, which ran dry while firefighters combatted the blaze in January. After days of railing over the water issue, Trump directed the Army Corps of Engineers to open the floodgates of two dams in northern California. In a post on Truth Social, which included a photo of what he called “beautiful water flow that I just opened,” the president declared victory.

“Today, 1.6 billion gallons and, in 3 days, it will be 5.2 billion gallons. Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory! I only wish they listened to me six years ago — There would have been no fire!” Trump said.

However, experts and local officials say this was far from a heroic act. In fact, if they hadn’t acted appropriately, releasing all the water could have caused more harm than good.

The Dangers of Releasing Too Much Water

Victor Hernandez, a local official in charge of water management at the Kaweah River, said the Army Corps of Engineers gave him a one-hour notice before they released water flows at maximum capacity. Hernandez told Politico he scrambled to move equipment and warn farms that there could be possible flooding.

A former official with the Bureau of Reclamation, an agency that manages water for the western part of the country, told the outlet that Trump’s order could have endangered property and lives.

“Something really bad could happen because of their nonsensical approach,” the former official, who was not named, said. “Floods are real. This isn’t playing around with a software company.”

Consequences for the Future

While local officials managed to act in time to avoid disaster, losing that much water could have an effect on farmers. In an interview with CBS News, Barry Nelson, a water strategist in California, said the water the Army Corps of Engineers released was being held for farmers to use next summer.

Nelson pointed out that it didn’t make sense to release the water, especially given that it’s raining in California. The president’s decision doesn’t only affect farmers, it also affects the fishing industry. Nelson is a consultant for the Golden State Salmon Association, whose members haven’t been able to fish in two years because of the low amounts of salmon.

"California salmon are right now at one of the most disastrous points they've been at, certainly in human history," He said.  "We've now gone to a point where many of our most important salmon runs are on the brink of extinction."

In addition, Nelson points out that the water Trump released didn't even get to where the president wanted it to go. While there is a rarely-used state valve that can divert the water to Los Angeles, it's unclear whether it was used.

Images | Donald Trump

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