On October 13, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) entitled
“Modernizing America's Water Resource Management and
Water Infrastructure.” The EO's broad goal is to
improve federal management of water resources and modernize water
infrastructure to provide “[a]bundant, safe, and reliable
supplies of water” for all Americans by coordinating water
policy and initiatives within the executive branch.
Overview of Executive Order
The EO creates a “Water Subcabinet” chaired by the
Secretary of the Interior and the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency, and comprised of the Secretaries
of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, and Army. This group is tasked
with cataloguing the numerous existing federal water-related
programs and authorities and recommending steps to coordinate and
consolidate federal water policy. President Trump further directs
the newly-created Water Subcabinet to report on recommendations
related to a laundry list of water policy,
