§9708 Interagency Committee on Water Management and Infrastructure

Summary

Creates a federal group called the Interagency Committee on Water Management and Infrastructure, or the Water Policy Committee. Members include the Administrator, the Secretary of the Interior, the EPA Administrator, and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, and the Army, plus any other agency heads the co-chairs pick. The co-chairs are the Interior Secretary and the EPA Administrator. They must meet at least 6 times a year when the co-chairs call meetings. The committee must make sure federal agencies that deal with water — like water supply, water quality and restoration, water infrastructure, river transportation, and forecasting — work together. It must improve coordination, align existing task forces, and focus on managing water and making water systems more resilient. That includes increasing storage and drought resilience; improving water quality and source protection; promoting restoration; upgrading drinking water, desalination, reuse, wastewater, and flood control systems; and improving data, research, modeling, and forecasting. The committee must also coordinate data access, plan federal water investments, and support workforce training to run and maintain key water facilities. Within 1 year after December 27, 2022, the committee must give Congress a list of research needs, including those that require cross-agency work.