Specifically, the effort would protect 8 million wetland acres and 100,000 miles of rivers and streams.
While this plan offers new specificity, it does not appear to be more ambitious than the administration’s overarching goal of protecting 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030.
There are 75.5 million acres of wetlands and more than 2.5 million river miles in the U.S.
To achieve the new goal, the administration announced it was launching a “freshwater challenge” that calls on states, tribes and cities to put forward their policies for conserving and restoring fresh water. Ten states, eight tribes and 24 local governments have signed on.
In addition, the White House announced $1 billion in funding to improve tribal access to water. This includes $700 million from the Indian Health Service and $320 million from the Bureau of Reclamation to speed up the delivery of drinking water and water infrastructure.
Currently, more than half of tribal households either do not have clean water or adequate sanitation, the administration said.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
