California Secures $1 Billion in Federal Funds for Water Storage, Rep. Kiley Says

Forty percent of the state is grappling with drought.

Water is released on the main spillway at Lake Oroville in Oroville, Calif., on June 15, 2023. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California has secured $1 billion in federal funding to bolster water storage as 40 percent of the state grapples with drought, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) announced on Sept. 18.

Kiley called it “great news,” in a post on X.

The announcement was made two days after a coalition of California Republican lawmakers, led by Kiley, urged the White House to direct $1 billion in newly enacted federal funding exclusively toward water storage and conveyance projects in the state, warning that the money could otherwise be diverted to other regions.

The letter, signed on Sept. 16 by the full California Republican congressional delegation, praised President Donald Trump’s recent executive actions on water policy and calls for swift allocation of the funds to address chronic shortages affecting farms and communities across the drought-plagued state. The One, Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed on July 4, included the water infrastructure provisions amid broader budget reconciliation efforts.

“From the very beginning of the budget reconciliation process, our Delegation worked tirelessly with the relevant authorizing committees and House leadership to secure non-reimbursable water infrastructure funding,” the lawmakers wrote to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

The House version of the bill had proposed $2 billion for expanding Bureau of Reclamation surface water storage facilities and $500 million for conveyance upgrades, they noted. However, the Senate pared it back to $1 billion total and broadened eligibility to all states with relevant facilities, raising fears that California—which spearheaded the push—could see its share diminished.

The delegation emphasized that the funding aligns with Trump’s water agenda, citing his administration’s 2018 allocation of $20 million for pre-construction on the Shasta Dam enlargement project, which could add 634,000 acre-feet of storage, and 2020 biological opinions that boosted supplies from the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.

Recent moves, including Executive Order 14181 on emergency water measures and a memorandum titled “Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California,” underscore the administration’s commitment, the letter states.

“While we recognize that shovel-ready conveyance projects are critically important, increasing the availability of water through increased surface storage must also be a priority if we are to achieve significant gains in water supply across the state,” the lawmakers wrote.

They called on Vought and Burgum to “take all appropriate actions” to steer the funds to California-based initiatives.

The push highlights ongoing tensions over California’s water, where environmental protections for endangered fish species have long clashed with agricultural and urban demands. Trump, during his first term, frequently criticized such regulations, and his second-term actions signal a renewed focus on infrastructure to “put people over fish,” as the memorandum states.

Regulators have said that expanded storage could alleviate pressures from climate-driven droughts, while critics argue that it risks overlooking ecosystem needs. The delegation’s letter makes no mention of environmental safeguards, focusing instead on reliability for “farmers and communities.”

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the letter or funding plans.

The $1 billion, while a fraction of California’s broader water-related funding needs, represents a rare federal win for the state’s GOP lawmakers in a divided Congress.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Water Resource Department did not immediately reply to requests for comment.