Tell your Senators and Representative, that you demand increased equity and more nature-based solutions in the upcoming 2022 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA)

Congress has begun work on the 2022 version of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2022. This biennial legislation provides an opportunity to up the bar for ecosystem restoration, climate resilience, and environmental justice in communities that historically have been disparaged when flood control and water infrastructure projects were developed. Demand increased equity and more nature-based solutions in the upcoming 2022 WRDA and in project planning and implementation nation-wide.

You can tell Congress to direct the Army Corps to close this disparity gap and that nature-based solutions need to be a bigger part of every WRDA Bill.  Solutions that include restoring wetlands, flood plains, oyster reefs, and coastal forests can effectively address increasingly extreme weather events brought about by climate change. Nature-based solutions avoid many of the ill effects of human-built infrastructure while at the same time boosting coastal economies and benefiting fish and wildlife. 

Tell Congress to better address historic injustices by prioritizing justice outcomes in Army Corps project planning, as required by WRDA 2020.  Low wealth, tribal, and communities of color face a greater risk of flooding and experience greater hardship in recovering after flood disasters, resulting in compounding personal and societal impacts to health, livelihoods, and the environment. The Corps needs to update its regulations to ensure that it is fully considering environmental justice and disproportionate impacts to communities of color and tribal communities. Congress should instruct the Corps to update its regulations and should provide sufficient authority for the Corps to waive cost-share requirements for projects that would benefit low-income communities. 

Finally, it is vital that Congress exercise its oversight to ensure that guidance to support disadvantaged communities is swiftly finalized per the WRDA 2020 due date of June 2021. Without these critical guidelines, the Corps will not maximize sustainable development and environmental justice at the level needed to respond to the Climate Justice Crisis in America. Every single water project today and tomorrow needs to include substantive progress for sustainability and justice.  

Articles & Resources:

1. Congress Begins 2022 WRDA Process with Key Hearings
2. HILL ENERGY BRIEFING: WRDA [2022] Offers Climate Resilience Opportunities
3. National Public Radio, “Climate-driven floods will disproportionately affect Black communities, study finds,” 1/31/2022
4. Wing, O.E.J., Lehman, W., Bates, P.D. et al. Inequitable patterns of US flood risk in the Anthropocene. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 156–162 (2022).
5. UNOPS, UNEP and the University of Oxford, Infrastructure for climate action: New report reveals how infrastructure defines our climate
6. EPA, Green Infrastructure for Climate Resiliency
7. 11/10/2021 letter from organizations and experts calling on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to usher in a new era of comprehensive, equitable and nature-based flood risk reduction
8. Environmental Defense Fund, “Four ways to reduce disproportionate flood risk and build resilience for all communities” 1/22/21
9. WRDA [2020] PASSAGE GOOD STEP, BUT WORK REMAINS
10. River Keepers, Rise to Resilience applauds passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020
11. WRDA 2020 Fact Sheet:
12. CRS In Focus: WRDA Primer
13. US Army Corps: Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works updates Water Resources Development Act of 2020 implementation guidance
14. US Army Corps: WRDA 2020 Implementation Guidance: 
15. CRS Army Corps of Engineers: Water Resource Authorization and Project Delivery Process (2019)