The US Army Corps of Engineers opened the Termins Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success. However, Los Angeles’ water sources are completely separated from the water system that these two lakes supply. The released water was discharged into the dry lakebed of Tulare Lake, according to a letter from Sen. Alex Padilla to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

The released water will be missing in summer

According to Padilla, the downstream entities used the released water for limited irrigation demand and groundwater recharge.

“They were holding extra water in those reservoirs because of the risk that it would be a dry summer,” said Heather Cooley, director of research for California water policy organization at the Pacific Institute.  “This release is extremely concerning,” Cooley said. “It’s providing zero benefit and putting California farmers at risk of water supply constraints in the coming months.”

California’s water experts were not consulted

“These reservoirs were federal reservoirs, and the state of California was not part of the decision making in this instance,” Karla Nemeth, California Department of Water Resources director, said. “We traditionally have a high degree of coordination at the operational level, which really wasn’t a part of this decision.”

California’s State Water project supplies water from Northern California to Southern California, including to Los Angeles. Los Angeles’ water supply comes partly from state reservoirs and partly from the Colorado River.
CNN asked the US Army Corps of Engineers and the White House for comments on this measure – without response so far.

Several news reports about this issue are available on YouTube, e.g. see the report by ABC News.