ORIGINAL-

Our Nation must sustain and expand efforts to reduce the vulnerability of communities to the impacts of drought. Every year, drought affects millions of Americans and poses a serious and growing threat to the security and economies of communities nationwide. Drought presents challenges to the viability of agricultural production and to the quantity and quality of drinking water supplies that communities and industries depend upon. Drought jeopardizes the integrity of critical infrastructure, causes extensive economic and health impacts, harms ecosystems, and increases energy costs. In responding to and recovering from past droughts, we have learned that focused collaboration across all levels of government and the private sector is critical to enable productive and workable solutions to build regional resilience to drought.