Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday touted Florida's unique efforts to purify and increase the Sunshine State's water supply and quality amid rampant wildfires in water-short Los Angeles.
While California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has taken nationwide heat for his state's ill-equipped response to wildfires that have spread to at least 17,000 acres of Los Angeles, DeSantis on Wednesday promised to send help to the Southern California hub, whose most populous city has already exhausted at least three 1-million-gallon water storage tanks in futile attempts to vanquish the fast-moving flames.
Florida, DeSantis noted at a Juno Beach press conference, is already ahead on water management and restoration projects.
"If you look at the things that need to be done, it's almost all the federal government that just simply does not work the way Florida works," DeSantis said. "You see that other states don't work the way Florida works, obviously with the things that are in the news.
"Since 2019, we've reduced...the amount of harmful nutrients in South Florida's waterways by 727,000 pounds per year of nitrogen and almost 500,000 pounds per year of phosphorus," he continued. "That's really, really big time...these help protect obviously the drinking water [and] the quality of water heading to the Everglades.
"By this period next year, [Florida] will have increased the flow of water south by almost 65%," he added, noting that his budget for the next fiscal year will include a record $805 million for Everglades restoration and statewide water quality projects.
California is in no such shape.
As of Thursday morning, the fires had consumed most of Palisades and had since spread to Eaton and the Hollywood Hills, scorching the seaside stretch between Malibu and Santa Monica. The flames have killed at least five and consumed 1,000 structures while threatening 13,000 buildings, making them the most destructive in Los Angeles history.
Worse, the city is running out of water.
According to the Los Angeles Times, fire hydrants ran dry as the Pacific Palisades burned with city officials blaming "tremendous demand" outweighing what they were allegedly equipped for. Critics, including President-elect Donald Trump, blamed Gov. Newsom for flouting a 2020 Trump order to divert supply from California's main water hub to farmers struggling with droughts.
"Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California," Trump posted to his Truth Social account Wednesday.
"He is the blame for this."
Florida, meanwhile, will begin preparations to help California—which sent aid to the Sunshine State ahead of Hurricanes Helene and Milton—by running a multi-agency aviation exercise Friday, according to Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson's office.
