California has no shortage of water, but firefighters battling brutal wildfires across Los Angeles are facing scarce resources to keep up with the blaze that has threatened thousands of lives, homes, land and wildlife.
Meanwhile, critics challenge Governor Gavin Newsom they call for “not playing politics”, claiming that poor political governance is to blame.
“It’s all politics,” said Edward Ring, director of water and energy policy for the think-tank California Policy Center, in an interview with Fox News Digital. “The whole cause is political, and they’re ironically politicizing it by saying it’s climate change, which is a political wedge they use all the time, which is actually one of the smallest factors causing this.”
Experts attribute the blame primarily to the way the state manages forests and to a lesser-known problem, the outdated system of state water reserves. California exists reservoirs can only hold so much water, and many were built in the mid-20th century.
Last year, the state experienced record rainfall following an atmospheric river event, but the existing water infrastructure has struggled to manage the sudden influx of water. A significant part of that rain was thrown into the ocean.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tour the Pacific Palisades central business district as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
Ring also pointed to “environmental extremists” in the state who have pushed for stricter regulations like the Endangered Species Act, which requires freshwater to flow through rivers and into the Pacific Ocean to protect endangered salmon and minnows. Mandates limit how much water can be diverted to storage, even during rainy years.
“There’s plenty of water,” Ring argues, but the primary challenge in getting water south to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley and cities in Southern California isn’t infrastructure capacity—it’s environmental protection policies. He points to a “consensus among bureaucrats and boards” that oversee California’s water management that prioritizes keeping more water in rivers to support endangered fish.
“That’s true as far as it goes,” he said, but despite these efforts, salmon and bubble populations have not recovered. In addition, there is growing concern that the sturgeon may soon also be classified as endangered.
“These endangered fish are used as a reason to leave water in the rivers,” he said.
Khaled Fouad and Mimi Laine embrace as they look over a family member’s property destroyed by the Eaton Fire on January 9, 2025 in Altadena, California. Fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, the Eaton Fire spread to more than 10,000 acres and destroyed many homes and businesses. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Urban areas, such as Los Angeles, have highly developed drainage systems that channel stormwater directly into the ocean. They were originally designed to prevent flooding, not to store water, so this presents an additional challenge for the area.
“They’re bringing in water from the California Aqueduct and they’re importing water into Los Angeles, and they haven’t brought in enough there and their reservoirs are depleted,” Ring said. “But the biggest problem, because you won’t empty even a half-full reservoir by putting out a fire, is the water infrastructure in Los Angeles, and the water infrastructure in Los Angeles was neglected. And the reason why it was neglected is because they want money for other projects.”
“The bottom line is they didn’t spend money on it, and they justified it by saying we need to use less water,” he continued. “And so they encouraged people, and in some cases, rationed, or even forced people to use less water. And as a result, you don’t have a system that’s as robust.”
One recent former California lawmaker said the state’s lack of water infrastructure is “ruining California.”
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A woman reacts as she evacuates after strong winds fueled devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area, at the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, on January 8, 2025. (David Swanson/Reuters)
California voters passed Proposition 1 in 2014, also known as the Water Quality, Supply and Infrastructure Improvement Act, which authorized $2.7 billion in bonds to increase the state’s water storage capacity by building new reservoirs and groundwater storage facilities. However, as of January 2025, no new reservoirs have been completed as part of Prop. 1.
“And it’s been here all this year, and we haven’t made a shovel full of dirt to move to do the project,” Dahle said. “The project just wasn’t funded, and we had a $100 billion surplus and we didn’t fund it. I think that’s the frustrating part, I think, for most Californians, when we had the money and we didn’t do anything about it.”
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The largest wildfire, the Eaton Fire near Altadena and Pasadena, has burned more than 27,000 acres, Cal Fire reported midday Thursday.
When reached for comment, Newsom’s spokesman Izzy Gardon told Fox News Digital, “The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”
