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.
The job cuts at the Bureau of Reclamation were ordered by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, according to two bureau employees with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The bureau, which employs about 1,000 people, is set to lose about 100 employees in California through terminations and buyouts, eliminating about 10% of its regional staff, one of the employees said. But larger workforce reductions are slated, and the bureau has been ordered to prepare plans to cut its staff by 40%, this person said.
Those targeted first for dismissal have been employees in their first year, and others who have been at the agency the shortest.
The Trump administration has offered millions of government workers eight months of salary if they voluntarily agree to leave.
The employees who have applied for “deferred resignation” buyouts include Karl Stock, the bureau’s regional director for the California-Great Basin Region. Those taking the buyouts are set to leave in March and be paid through September under the program, which Musk is leading.
Unions representing federal employees have challenged the program in court.
Internal documents reviewed by The Times show that the positions being eliminated include maintenance mechanics, engineers, fish biology specialists and others.
“It’s going to significantly impact our operations,” said one Bureau of Reclamation employee.
The Department of Government Efficiency didn’t respond to a request for comment. The staff cutbacks were reported previously by Politico.
The loss of jobs at the agency worries leaders of California water districts. Managers of 14 water agencies in the Central Valley warned in a Feb. 25 letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting Reclamation Commissioner David Palumbo that making such major reductions at the Bureau of Reclamation would “compromise its ability to fulfill its mission of delivering water and power.”
“Reclamation’s employees in this region have critical knowledge of the many quirks of our aged infrastructure. This knowledge is absolutely essential to assuring the continued safe and reliable delivery of water throughout the state,” the water agency managers said in their letter. “A reduction in force that eliminates Reclamation employees with the specialized knowledge needed to manage, operate, and maintain our aging infrastructure could negatively impact our water delivery system and threaten public health and safety.”
The water agencies that registered concerns include agricultural suppliers such as Glenn Colusa Irrigation District and municipal suppliers such as Contra Costa Water District. The agencies receive water from the federally operated Central Valley Project, a system of more than 20 dams and reservoirs that extends more than 400 miles and delivers water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmlands and communities in the San Joaquin Valley.
Sandy Day, the Bureau of Reclamation’s chief of public affairs, said the agency “remains focused on providing essential water and hydropower to the American public across the 17 western states.”
“While we do not comment on personnel matters, we are committed to enhancing workforce management and are collaborating closely with the Office of Personnel Management to embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation,” Day said in an email.
Large agricultural water agencies in the Central Valley have supported Trump’s recent order for the federal government to “maximize” water deliveries.
The 14 water agencies said in their letter that they are ready to collaborate with the Interior Department and the Bureau of Reclamation “to develop a strategic and thoughtful approach to implement actions in accordance with the President’s policies while protecting, maintaining, and efficiently and effectively operating the vital infrastructure.”
The Bureau of Reclamation operates major California dams including the Shasta Dam, as well as the C.W. “Bill” Jones Pumping Plant, which draws water from the Delta and sends it flowing south in the Delta-Mendota Canal.
The Regional Water Authority, made up of municipal water suppliers in the Sacramento area, has also told the Trump administration that staff cuts to Reclamation would “impair the agency’s ability” to operate and maintain water infrastructure and bring “risks to public safety.”
Jim Peifer, the authority’s executive director, wrote in a Feb. 24 letter to Burgum and Palumbo, “The flood control element of public safety and the disruption to the nation’s food supply should be considered.” He noted that the Bureau of Reclamation’s water deliveries are critical for agriculture and that, this year, the agency’s infrastructure has protected the Sacramento region from dangerous flooding.
“It is no secret that our water supply infrastructure is badly outdated and in need of upgrading,” Peifer wrote. “A reduction in force that eliminates Reclamation employees with the specialized knowledge needed to move water through our aging infrastructure could cripple our water delivery system and create a significant safety risk.”
Peifer said the organization is already “extremely lean on staffing” and that further workforce cuts would put people who live near dams in danger.
The staff cuts at the Bureau of Reclamation coincide with similar mass firings at other agencies, including NOAA and the National Weather Service. The firings have been condemned by Democrats, scientists and former government employees as a destructive effort that will undermine the agencies’ vital work, from delivering weather alerts to managing fisheries and protecting beaches from pollution.
Gordon Lyford, a former employee of the Bureau of Reclamation who is now vice president of the Water League, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the federal water infrastructure is complex and requires specialized knowledge to operate.
He noted that Shasta and Friant dams, for example, were built in the 1940s, and they increasingly need repairs and inspections to ensure safety.
“Having too few employees can increase the chance of a disaster or failure,” Lyford said.
“The current cuts in employees make no sense. There was no evaluation or planning, just cutting a lot at one time,” Lyford said. “It just harms the country and the economy.”
