Washington, D.C., March 22, 2016 -- President Obama has issued a Presidential Memorandum on Building National Capabilities for Long-Term Drought Resilience.
From the Memorandum: "Water challenges are facing communities and regions across the United States, impacting millions of lives and costing billions of dollars in damages. Recent events, including record-breaking drought in the West, severe flooding in the Southeast, and the water-quality crisis in Flint, MI, have elevated a national dialogue on the state of our Nation’s water resources and infrastructure."
The Memorandum, which comes on the the heels of World Water Day and the first-ever White House Water Summit, lays out six drought-resilience goals and corresponding actions, and permanently establishes the National Drought Resilience Partnership (NDRP) as an interagency task force responsible for coordinating execution of these actions.
The Administration is also releasing the NDRP’s Long-Term Drought Resilience Federal Action Plan, describing specific activities that Federal agencies will take to build national drought-resilience capabilities in accordance with the goals and actions of the Presidential Memorandum.
These combined efforts will improve drought monitoring and forecasting, improve rural access to drinking water, and improve the coordination and integration of Federal programs.
