CA Refutes Trump Claim That Troops Entered CA To Turn On Water Flow

CALIFORNIA — Golden State officials have refuted President Donald Trump's claim that the military entered the state to switch the water flow back on.

The latest bone of contention between the Democratic state and the GOP president has been over California's water resources following the fires that devastated Los Angeles earlier this month.

Following a visit to fire-scarred LA, Trump took to Truth Social on Monday: "The United States Military just entered the state of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond. The days of putting a Fake Environmental Argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!"

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The California Department of Water Resources denied this claim on X Tuesday morning: "The military did not enter California."

The agency clarified that the federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for three days for maintenance.

"State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful," the agency said.

The news comes after Trump toured the devastation left by the Palisades Fire by air with Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday. The president called the sight an "incineration."

After the tour, Trump signed an executive order that directs federal officials to "immediately take action" on delivering more water to the Southland. The order overrides any rules that stand in the way.

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Although Trump cited the recent LA fires, the actions he is ordering will deliver more water from the federal Central Valley Project, which mostly delivers water for agricultural use and communities in the San Joaquin Valley.

“Do not be fooled by Trump’s lies: none of the policies in this executive order will move even a single drop of extra water to communities devastated by these wildfires," U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman wrote in a statement on Sunday.

However, the Westland Water District, which represents farmers and communities in the San Joaquin Valley, thanked the president for the order.

"The challenges that he highlights are real, and his leadership in addressing the barriers to water delivery are welcomed. It’s clear that what we’ve been doing for the past few decades has not been working; not for the people, for agriculture, or for the fish," the district wrote in a Monday statement.

This is the second executive order that Trump has signed that is related to California's water system.

The first order, signed on his first day in office, is titled "Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California."

That order directed agencies to "route more water" from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state. The order is meant to reverse environmental protections for an endangered smelt fish.

The two recent orders follow Trump's criticism of the state for its handling of wildfires in early January when some fire hydrants ran dry during the fight against the deadly Palisades Fire. However, the issue of those fire hydrants has since become a focal point for misinformation.

As reported by LAist, the water supply was simply "too slow, not too low."

According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the explanation for the dry hydrants was traced back to nearby water tanks that help maintain enough pressure for water flow from hydrants in elevated areas. However, due to heavy use, crews weren't able to refill the tanks fast enough.

LADWP’s explanation for the shortage comes down to three nearby water tanks, each with a storage capacity of about a million gallons. These tanks help maintain enough pressure for water to flow from fire hydrants in uphill areas — but the pressure had decreased due to heavy water use, and officials knew the tanks couldn’t keep up the drain forever, LAist reported.

“I want to make sure that you understand there's water on the trunk line, it just cannot get up the hill because we cannot fill the tanks fast enough,” LADWP CEO Janisse Quiñones said at a news conference.

Newsom recently defended the Golden State's water supply, accusing Trump of spreading more "misinformation."

"And I don't mean it in a maligned sense," he told reporters last week.

"Maybe the president just doesn't know that there's not a spigot that can be turned to solve all the water problems that he alleges exist...as it relates to the state water system here in Southern California."