New push to shore up shrinking Colorado River could reduce water flow to California
The Trump administration is again moving to expand the federal role in handling the Colorado River — this time by making it easier for farmers and thirsty communities on the northern San Joaquin River to build in those waters.
The White House has sent four letters to governors requesting that they include more water for the state of California in irrigation projects.
But state officials have warned the effort could jeopardize the Central Valley’s water supply with more pumping into the region.
The administration is also planning to make a new water plan mandatory, with the first submission due by early summer.
The administration’s plans were first reported by The Sacramento Bee, a California-based newspaper.
The letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in the White House’s request to his office, says the Federal Water Project has approved water for California for a project to replenish the river from the Sierra. The project would bring in water from a lake near the city of Fresno and divert some of that water to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, increasing water to the state.
But the proposed expansion of the federal government’s role in managing the Colorado River — for the first time since the federal government took over management of the river from the state in the 1960s — is seen in some quarters as a “power grab” and a way to put more land in the hands of private interests.
“I don’t think that anybody wants to have more public water,” said Mark Brown, head of the Southern California Water think tank that works on water issues.
“What do you do about water when you have too much water?” Brown said, referring to the lack of water in the Central Valley.
The California Water Impact Report on water, released by Newsom in February, said the state’s water infrastructure is “underutilized” and stressed that the region would be better served by investing
