On Oct. 13, President Trump signed an executive order on “Modernizing America’s Water Resource Management and Water Infrastructure.” It formally establishes a Water Subcabinet of senior federal agency officials to “facilitate efficient and effective management and modernization of our water supplies and systems while also eliminating duplication between agencies.”

The Water Subcabinet will be co-chaired by U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, and will include senior officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the Army. The Water Subcabinet will work in close coordination with senior officials from the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and other federal agencies as appropriate. The designees’ role is “to improve our federal water infrastructure and prioritize access to essential water supplies for all Americans.”

“Water resource planning and management across the nation can benefit from the focus of the new Water Subcabinet.”

Kelly Collins, Managing Principal, Geology/Hydrogeology