The September backdrop was drought and the 2024 California wildfires. The location was Donald Trump’s expensive Los Angeles golf course. The words uttered by the Republican presidential candidate were that the Columbia River Basin was “essentially a very large faucet” and if all that water was diverted from the Pacific Ocean, “all of that water would come … right into Los Angeles.” Read More
Michelle Mungall: Trump is saying the Columbia River Treaty, the long-standing international agreement governing this so-called “faucet,” isn’t fair to Americans. He feels the same way about the treaty’s renegotiated version
Michelle Mungall: Trump is saying the Columbia River Treaty, the long-standing international agreement governing this so-called “faucet,” isn’t fair to Americans. He feels the same way about the treaty’s renegotiated version
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The September backdrop was drought and the 2024 California wildfires. The location was Donald Trump’s expensive Los Angeles golf course. The words uttered by the Republican presidential candidate were that the Columbia River Basin was “essentially a very large faucet” and if all that water was diverted from the Pacific Ocean, “all of that water would come … right into Los Angeles.”
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It was a shocking statement to anyone living in the Columbian Basin, which spans Southeastern B.C. and parts of Idaho, Montana, Washington and Oregon. Now, Trump says shocking and misinformed things multiple times a day so, on its own, the real shock is that Trump doesn’t seem to know about the 1,500 kilometres between the Columbia River and L.A., nor that the people in Basin states — never mind in Canada — might have something to say about redirecting their water. But this statement isn’t on its own.
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Informed Opinion
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Trump has been threatening and attacking Canada since before he took the oath of office. He’s now saying that the Columbia River Treaty, or CRT, the long-standing international agreement governing this so-called “faucet,” isn’t fair to Americans. He feels the same way about the treaty’s renegotiated version that was reached after six years of diligent talks between Canadian and U.S. officials. Despite the extensive public engagement leading into this new agreement, Trump has halted its ratification to review it in more depth.
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Trump’s current threats, “faucet” talk and putting the treaty process on ice are leaving many in the Columbia Basin feeling anxious, especially those of us in the little mountain towns on the Canadian side. On top of the U.S. president threatening our economic well-being with tariffs, he’s going after the water we drink, we use to wash dishes, to make electricity, to bathe our babies, to grow food, and to fight forest fires.
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This water is our region’s lifeblood, and we’re very protective of it. The current B.C. minister for energy, Adrian Dix, recently summed up our connection to our water and the CRT as “visceral” in a video call attended by nearly 600 people concerned about the CRT’s status. He’s spot on, not just because anyone would feel that way about their local waterways, but because of the treaty’s history and impact on us.
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When the CRT was first negotiated before its original signing in 1961, the people of the Columbia Basin were left out. Indigenous peoples who had lived with these waters since time immemorial weren’t allowed a say. No one talked to the farmers whose lands would be flooded from the upcoming treaty dams. It was hashed out in backrooms by politicians. The sour taste this left in the mouths of Basin residents crossed generations, so when the opportunity came to renegotiate the CRT, the people insisted on being included.
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