Republican lawmaker blames California's water policies for national food security risk

In a recent interview, Rep. Harriet Hageman charged Governor Gavin Newsom with using Colorado River politics for partisan purposes, contending that California’s antiquated water infrastructure and stringent environmental rules have forced the state to depend more heavily on the river. She warned that this shift, which has curtailed irrigation water for the state’s farms, could undermine U.S. food self-sufficiency and make the nation reliant on imports.

Environmental organizations such as Tell the Dam Truth and the Sierra Club oppose new dam construction and desalination, but Hageman labeled their opposition as backward. The river’s Upper Basin runs through Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah, while the Lower Basin includes California, Arizona and Nevada, and it has already been subject to steep usage cuts ordered by the Trump administration. California officials point to a drop in Colorado River withdrawals to the lowest level since 1949 and cite a $6.8 billion reservoir project slated for the mid-2030s, along with groundwater upgrades, as steps toward long-term water security.