White House launches drought relief working group to address urgency of Western water crisis
The White House is giving light to a deepening water crisis in Western U.S. states.
On April 21, the Biden-Harris administration announced the formation of an Interagency Working Group to address worsening drought conditions in the West and support farmers, Tribes, and communities impacted by ongoing water shortages.
The White House said that in areas like the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon and northern California, lake levels today are lower than occurred during the Dust Bowl. Severe drought conditions can set the stage for worsening wildfire seasons, which in 2020 alone caused $16.6 billion in damages, the White House said.
The early, severe drought situation is just the latest manifestation of the “pervasive and pernicious impacts” that climate change is having on American communities, the White House said.
National Climate Advisor McCarthy, as chair of the National Climate Task Force, requested that the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and the Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland form an Interagency Working Group to address the needs of drought-impacted communities, according to the release.
The Working Group, according to a news release, will be co-chaired by the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture to build upon existing resources to help coordinate across the federal government, working in partnership with state, local, and Tribal governments to address the needs of communities suffering from drought-related impacts.
“In the United States, intense droughts threaten major economic drivers in rural communities such as agriculture and recreation, disrupts food systems and water supplies, endangers public health, jeopardizes the integrity of critical infrastructure, and exacerbates wildfires and floods," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release. "With our interagency Working Group, we will collaborate with Tribes, agricultural producers, landowners, and rural communities to build regional resilience to drought."
