California has no shortage of water, but firefighters battling raging blazes across Los Angeles face scarce resources to respond to blazes that threaten thousands of lives, homes, land and wildlife. [emphasis, links added]
Meanwhile, critics have questioned Governor Gavin Newsom's call to “not play politics,” arguing that political mismanagement is to blame.
“This is all political,” Edward Ring, director of water and energy policy at the California Policy Center think tank, told Fox News Digital.
“The whole reason is political, and the irony is that they politicize it by saying it's about climate change, which is the political wedge they've been using, which is actually the least important factor in this. one.
Experts largely blame the state's handling of forestry management and a little-known problem, the state's outdated water reserve system.
California's existing reservoirs have limited storage capacity, and many were built in the mid-20th century.
The state experienced record rainfall last year after an atmospheric river event, but existing water infrastructure faced difficulties managing the sudden influx of water. A large portion of rainfall is dumped into the ocean.
Lin also pointed to the state's “environmental extremists” pushing for stricter regulations such as the Endangered Species Act, which requires fresh water to flow through rivers and into the Pacific Ocean to protect endangered Delta smelt and salmon.
These regulations limit the amount of water that can be transferred from storage, even in wet years.
“There's plenty of water,” Lin argued, but The main challenge in moving water south to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California cities is not infrastructure capacity but environmental policy.
He pointed to a “consensus between bureaucrats and board directors” to oversee California's water management prioritizes keeping more water in rivers to support endangered fish.
“For now, that's true,” he said. But despite these efforts, salmon and smelt populations have yet to recover. Additionally, there are growing concerns that sturgeons may soon be listed as endangered as well.
“These endangered fish are used as a reason to keep water in the river,” he said.
Urban areas such as Los Angeles have highly developed drainage systems that drain stormwater directly into the ocean. They were originally designed with flood protection in mind, not water storage, so this created additional challenges for the area.
“They brought water from the California Aqueduct and brought it into Los Angeles, but they didn't bring enough water and their reservoirs were depleted,” Lin said.
“But the biggest problem is Los Angeles' water infrastructure, which has been neglected because you don't even drain half-full reservoirs to fight fires. The reason it was ignored was that they wanted the funds for other projects.
“The bottom line is they're not spending money on it, and they're justifying it by saying we have to use less water,” he continued. “So they've been encouraging people and, in some cases, rationing and even forcing people to use less water. As a result, you don't have such a robust system.
One recent former California lawmaker said The state's lack of water infrastructure is “destroying California.”
California voters passed Proposition 1, also known as the Water Quality, Supply and Infrastructure Improvement Act, in 2014. Authorizes $2.7 billion in bonds to increase state's water storage capacity Build new reservoirs and groundwater storage facilities.
However, as of January 2025, Under Proposition 1, no new reservoirs were completed.
“After all these years, we still haven't picked up a shovelful of dirt to move this project,” Dahle said. “This program is just not funded, we have a $100 billion surplus, but we are not funding it. I think the frustrating thing for most Californians is When we have money, we do nothing.“
The largest wildfire, the Eaton Fire near Altadena and Pasadena, had burned more than 27,000 acres as of noon Thursday, Cal Fire reported.
When reached for comment, Newsom's spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Fox News Digital that “the governor's focus is on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have everything they need.” resource.
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