Ranking Member Huffman Blasts Decades-Long Water Theft by California Water District

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) responded to a newly released Inspector General summary report finding that the management and staff of California’s Panoche Water District orchestrated a decades-long operation to illegally divert and sell billions of gallons of water from federal facilities:
 
“This wasn’t just a water theft—it was a betrayal of public trust on an almost cinematic scale. For over two decades, while the West endured historic droughts and communities were told to tighten their belts, modern-day water rustlers siphoned off billions of gallons of federally-managed water and sold it for profit. That’s outrageous. The fact that it went undetected for so long demands a serious reckoning—not just with the individuals who pulled it off, but with the federal agency systems that allowed it to happen. We need full accountability—and reforms that guarantee this never happens again.”
 

Background

In June 2024, Ranking Member Huffman formally requested a Government Accountability Office investigation into oversight gaps at the Bureau of Reclamation and called for stronger systems to monitor usage, detect unauthorized diversions, and crack down on illegal water theft.

The DOI OIG summary report, Panoche Water District General Manager Conspired to Illegally Divert Federal Water (Report No. 24-0745), is available at https://www.doioig.gov/reports/investigation/summary-panoche-water-district-manager-conspired-illegally-divert-federal

Press Contact

Ana Unruh Cohen
(202) 498-3487

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