The White House Announces New Commitments to Water Sustainability Following the Water Summit

On Tuesday March 22nd, The White House hosted the Water Summit to discuss the actions and commitments necessary for building a sustainable water future.  Participants included government agencies, universities, nonprofits, and companies representing not only the water industry but a broad cross section of the economy and society.  This first-ever White House Water Summit was convened to shine a spotlight on the importance of cross-cutting, creative solutions to solving the water problems of today, as well as to highlight the innovative strategies that will catalyze change across the ways in which we use, conserve, protect, and think about water in the years to come.

As part of the Summit, the Administration called on institutions and organizations from all sectors to make new commitments to build a sustainable water future in the United States. In response, institutions and organizations made the following commitments, as reported and described by respondents in the Commitments to Action on Building a Sustainable Water Future.   Following the summit, The White House announced that nearly $4 billion in private capital will be invested in water-infrastructure projects nationwide, more than $1 billion from the private sector will be allocated to innovative research and technology and nearly $35 million in federal grants this year will support cutting-edge water science. The executive office also introduced a Presidential Memorandum and supporting Action Plan on building drought resilience as well as a new National Water Model for improving river-forecasting.