Presidential Letter for World Water Day
To mark World Water Day, President Biden wrote a letter sharing how his Administration is advancing the most ambitious clean water agenda in history:
I send my warmest greetings to everyone celebrating World Water Day.
Our freshwater resources make life possible. They nourish our families, sustain our economy and our communities, and support incredible biodiversity. Despite the ways they enrich our people and the environment, these essential, limited resources are inaccessible for too many Americans—and they are at risk due to climate change and other threats. My Administration is working to protect our waters and ensure every household in America has access to clean drinking water.
From day one, we have worked tirelessly to conserve our natural treasures for current and future generations. My first week in office, I signed an Executive Order establishing the “America the Beautiful” Initiative—our country’s first-ever national conservation goal—committing to conserve, connect, and restore at least 30 percent of our Nation’s lands and waters by 2030. During my first year, we protected more lands and waters than any President since John F. Kennedy, and we are continuing to work with partners at all levels to support locally led conservation and restoration efforts in freshwater ecosystems. And last year, the United States joined the Global Freshwater Challenge—the largest-ever global initiative to conserve and restore degraded rivers, lakes, and wetlands.
To ensure that our communities and our landscapes are more resilient to a changing climate and to protect drinking water sources for all Americans, it is crucial to restore and protect these freshwater systems. As others attempt to upend protections for clean water, my Administration will use every legal authority we have to protect our Nation’s waters for the people and communities that depend on them.
We are taking unprecedented steps to ensure every American household benefits from our vital freshwater resources. Everyone in this country deserves the peace of mind of knowing that, when they turn on their faucets, they will have clean water to drink. We are committed to replacing every single lead pipe in the United States, and we are investing $15 billion from our Investing in America agenda to realize that goal, in addition to $11.7 billion from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to replace lead pipes across the country. And for the first time, we are acting to set a standard to regulate the release of cancer-causing “forever chemicals” into our waterways and eliminate them from our drinking water.
When we safeguard our freshwater resources, we not only protect the environment but also support a vital part of our economy. This World Water Day, may we recommit to sustaining these essential waters for generations to come.
President Joe Biden
