SACRAMENTO, California — President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are so in sync on California water that they’re in a race to capture as much of it as possible — even at each other’s expense.
Trump and Newsom’s relative alignment on water issues has been good news all around for farmers and cities that draw from both sides of the state’s main water hub: the federally run Central Valley Project, and the aptly named State Water Project, which is state-run.
Water deliveries have ticked up, mostly as a result of back-to-back wet years but also as a result of loosened environmental rules on both sides, much to the chagrin of environmental groups concerned about the collapse of endangered fish populations in the sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
But the feds have been steadily squeezing out more water over the course of the past year — to the point where state customers are getting worried that their own supplies could be in jeopardy.
“It’s on my radar,” said Jennifer Pierre, general manager of the State Water Contractors, which represents the 27 water agencies and 27 million people getting state supplies.
