Major California water managers reliant on flows from the Colorado River are urging the Trump administration to hold back on slashing staffing at the Bureau of Reclamation, warning that “across-the-board cuts” could put at risk both water and power deliveries.
The Colorado River Board of California — which represents 20 million people and 600,000 irrigated acres of farmland in the southern part of the state — outlined its concerns in a Thursday letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
“We fully support the Trump-Vance Administration’s goals to make our government efficient and responsive to the needs of our Nation,” states the letter signed by JB Hamby, the board’s chairman as well as the state’s Colorado River commissioner. “That being said, we are deeply concerned about any initiatives or proposals that would indiscriminately cut the workforce of the Bureau of Reclamation. Such across-the-board cuts could severely jeopardize the delivery of water and power across the West, upon which our farms and cities rely on.”
The Colorado River board represents seven counties that receive water from the Colorado River and includes representatives of major providers, including the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Water District, Palo Verde Irrigation District and the San Diego County Water Authority as well as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, California Department of Water Resources and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
