It's one of the first things you learn when you arrive in California: Where the water comes from. Obviously, Donald Trump missed this geography lesson, or only retained what suited him. When it comes to the Los Angeles fires, he's sticking to what he believes. The catastrophe, which killed 28 people and destroyed more than 17,000 homes, is the fault of the Democrats who govern California. If they had "turned on the tap" to allow water in the northern part of the state to flow, Los Angeles wouldn't have burned. While visiting Pacific Palisades, one of the most devastated neighborhoods, on Friday, January 24, Trump stated the obvious: water would have been the most effective way of putting out the fires.

Experts, however, were quick to react: There is no "faucet" or magic valve to bring water from the north of the state to Los Angeles. In northern California, water comes from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park, 300 kilometers east of San Francisco. In the south, in Los Angeles, water comes mainly from the Owens River, east of the Sierra Nevada.

When the fires broke out on January 7, there was enough water in the state's southern reservoirs. The hypothetical additional water would have made no difference. The failure was that of state infrastructure, which was insufficient for firefighters, who were overwhelmed by the violence of the wind and deprived of air support, to pump enough water immediately. Since October 1, 2024, Los Angeles received just 3% of average rainfall, compared with 90% in San Francisco.

The water the president is most interested in is the delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, a labyrinth of rivers flowing into San Francisco Bay. Highly coveted, it feeds the California Aqueduct, which irrigates the agricultural Central Valley – the heart of Republican counties. These counties complain that part of the water is being taken away from them to protect the environment, and more specifically delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus), a 5- to 7-centimeter-long freshwater fish that has been on the endangered species list since 1993. A "worthless fish," Trump said on January 8, who has been pursuing it with vindictiveness for nearly 10 years.

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