Federal Program Funds Aim To Respond to Severe Drought
Perhaps as kids, maybe we shouldn’t have been singing “Rain, rain, go away,” because it seems to have worked too well. Particularly in the American West, where the Great Salt Lake and Lake Mead are at dangerously low levels due to years of drought, the environmental concern is great, and growing with each passing year with limited rainfall.
In an effort to address these concerns, the Biden administration in April 2021 launched the Drought Resilience Interagency Working Group (IWG) to evaluate the impacts of ongoing water shortages. Co-chaired by the secretaries of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the IWG includes a total of 14 departments across the federal government.
IWG recently issued its one-year summary report, which discussed numerous federal programs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Pub. L. 117-58) that agencies are overseeing to improve drought resilience nationwide. The act is providing more than $13 billion to help communities meet water supply demands through a wide variety of infrastructure improvements. “These key investments will improve federal stewardship of our critical resources and significantly increase efforts to support our partners, stakeholders, tribal nations and communities,” the report states.
Among the key funding efforts provided under IIJA, DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation will allocate $8.3 billion over the next five years to continue building drought resilience throughout the West. Work has begun through the allocation of $1.6 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2022 to various programs and projects, including $420 million for rural water projects across the country and more than $240 million to replace aging infrastructure.
USDA is providing $918 million for investment in watershed infrastructure projects with local communities through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). These investments will help improve the resilience of watersheds in the face of severe drought and other climate-infused disasters through three programs: the Watershed Rehabilitation Program, the Watershed and Flood Prevention Program, and the Emergency Watershed Program. NRCS has already announced nearly $600 million worth of IIJA-funded projects under these authorities.
Among other key agency programs, the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration received $80 million in IIJA funding to advance environmental modeling crucial to understanding critical Earth systems. In addition, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received $17.1 billion through IIJA and other appropriations to invest in a broad array of water resource infrastructure and actions that support: (1) the efficient and sustainable use of the nation’s waterways; (2) multi-benefit flood protection systems; (3) aquatic ecosystem restoration projects; and (4) local infrastructure development to address specific needs of local communities and tribal nations.
However, federal funds can only do so much. Henry Wadsworth once said that “into each life some rain must fall.” Well, an abundant supply of rain — sooner rather than later — would certainly help to relieve the dangerous drought conditions facing the U.S., if not globally.
Join us for our following Thompson Grants events:
Federal Grants Forum | June 15-17, 2022 | Denver, Colo.
Federal Grants Forum For Institutions of Higher Education | Sept. 28-29, 2022 | Virtual Event
