WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Wednesday, during Earth Week, the White House is convening state, Tribal, and local leaders from across the country for a White House Water Summit where the Administration will announce a new national goal and partnership to conserve and restore freshwater resources.
'The America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge: A Partnership to Conserve and Restore America's Rivers, Lakes, Streams, and Wetlands' sets a bold, new national goal to protect, restore, and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of river and streams in the U.S.
The Biden Administration is also launching a new initiative that calls on all states and other governments and entities, including Tribes, interstate organizations, cities, and local communities to advance their own policies and strategies for conserving and restoring America's freshwater systems. More than 100 inaugural members from across the country have already signed on to support freshwater restoration in their communities, including ten states, eight Tribes, and 24 local governments.
To bring safe, clean water to Tribal communities, the Department of Health and Human Services' Indian Health Services (IHS) and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) are announcing more than $1 billion from the President's Investing in America agenda and a new partnership.
Roughly half of Tribal households in the country lack access to clean drinking water or adequate sanitation. Wednesday's announcement includes $700 million from the Department of Health and Human Services' Indian Health Services and $320 million from the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation to accelerate the delivery of drinking water and community sanitation infrastructure projects in Indian Country. In addition, IHS and BOR are announcing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two agencies to leverage BOR's engineering capacity to accelerate the delivery of Tribal water projects.
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