The Trump administration said Wednesday it intends to roll back first-ever limits set by the Biden administration on four toxic “forever chemicals” contaminating water supplies across the country. Even low levels of the chemicals known as PFAS are linked with cancer, immune system problems, developmental effects and other health ailments. EPA-mandated testing has found them in nearly half of Americans’ drinking water.
The United States resumed water deliveries to Mexico after initially denying the request for the emergency transfer from the Colorado River, according to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is expected to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water to South Texas every five years. This five-year period ends in October, and so far, Mexico has delivered 530,730 acre-feet.
President Donald Trump has long complained about modern rules that limit water flow for showerheads, making it harder for him to wash his “beautiful hair.”
In his first term, Trump directed that restrictions on showerheads be loosened, an action that former President Joe Biden reversed.
Now Trump is going to let the water flow — again.
A coalition of top scientists loaded its last set of wastewater samples for analysis Sunday after receiving the final word from San Diego County late last week that the work should cease due to a nationwide clawback of federal public health funds.
Tariffs and immigration crackdowns have taken center stage in recent weeks as President Donald Trump pushes border tougher restrictions. But there has been another issue also playing out: water.
The Trump administration announced a wave of regulatory rollbacks on Wednesday including a repeal of Biden-era emissions limits on power plants and automobiles, as well as reduced protections for waterways.
When President Trump called for the federal government to “maximize” water deliveries in California, commanders of the Army Corps of Engineers quickly found two dams where they could carry out that order. And even though the officials knew the water couldn’t be moved out of the Central Vally as Trump wished, they released billions of gallons anyway, according to a newly released government document.
After the Washington Post revealed late last week that the Army Corps of Engineers knew that releasing water from two California reservoirs at President Donald Trump’s direction in January was unlikely to reach the southern part of the state, Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., is demanding answers from the Pentagon and the Department of Interior for what he calls the “politically motivated, uncoordinated, unscheduled, and opaque water releases” in the Central Valley between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2.
The Trump administration has ordered firings and buyouts at the federal agency that operates water infrastructure in California, potentially jeopardizing the agency’s ability to manage dams and deliver water, according to Central Valley water officials.
President Donald Trump’s recent order to release water from reservoirs into California’s Central Valley had no direct impact on San Diego. But the new administration will be overseeing negotiations that will determine the future of a main source of the county’s water: the Colorado River.
It’s anybody’s guess whether Trump’s unpredictable nature and penchant for unorthodox power moves — as he just exhibited — will be a factor.
