The state of California has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration alleging that President Donald Trump’s order granting farmers more access to water in the state had failed to consider a variety of environmental impacts.
The president signed a memorandum on Wednesday supporting water development and delivery in the state’s Central Valley and Southern California, fulfilling a campaign promise. The order would allow farmers to pump water to irrigate farmland, addressing a water crisis that has impacted the state’s agricultural industry. For years, farmers have been lobbying for changes in rules that govern the management of the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP), the two largest water and transport systems in the state that provide water to over 25 million Californians and acres of farmland. The rules limit water supplies to the farmers who have been fighting years of drought, in an effort to protect aquatic life.
