Milwaukee Mayor speaks in D.C. Tuesday at White House water summit

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Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson spoke in Washington, D.C. Tuesday at the White House water summit.

The summit is part of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which is a binational coalition of mayors collaborating to promote “the environmental and socioeconomic health of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin for the benefit of current and future generations.”

More than 260+ member municipalities participate in the cities initiative, which serves as the largest municipally-driven organization in the basin, according to officials.

At Tuesday’s White House Water Summit, the Biden-⁠Harris Administration announced a national goal to protect and restore freshwater resources. The administration delivers more than $1 Billion for Tribal Clean Water Projects.

During Earth Week, White House staff met with state, Tribal, and local leaders from across the country where it announced, ‘The America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge.’

The initiative is a partnership to conserve and restore America’s rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands, As a part of the initiative, 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of our nation’s river and streams would be impacted.

According to White House officials, more than 100 inaugural members from across the country have already signed on to support freshwater restoration in their communities, including ten states, eight Tribes, and 24 local governments.

“Our nation’s lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries, and wetlands are fundamental to the health, prosperity, and resilience of our communities and are held sacred by many Tribal Nations. They are not only the sources of clean drinking water that flows into the taps of our homes, but also economic drivers supporting jobs and outdoor recreation across the nation. By absorbing and storing carbon, our nation’s waterways and wetlands – and the forests, grasslands, and farmlands they nourish – play a critical role in the fight against climate change,” White House officials said.

Additionally, the Department of the Interior is announcing an additional $11 million in new resources from the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program to help combat Western megadrought.

Back in the Midwest, as a part of the Biden-Harris Get the Lead Out Partnership, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is partnering with three of its members – Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee – to launch the Great Lakes Lead Pipes Partnership, a first-of-its kind, mayor-led effort to accelerate lead pipe replacement in cities with the heaviest lead burdens.

According to White House officials, many of the estimated 9 million lead pipes remaining in the United States are concentrated in Great Lakes metropolitan areas.

“This partnership will provide a collaborative forum for Great Lakes big cities to share emerging best practices to encourage faster, more equitable replacement programs and overcome common challenges, including by reducing per pipe replacement costs, improving community outreach, and spurring water workforce development,” officials said.

Last Summer, as previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, Johnson joined mayors from the United States and Canada’s Great Lakes regions in signing a pledge to address climate change and expand environmental equity, which the mayor says could have a positive impact on reducing poverty and ultimately crime in Wisconsin’s largest city.

Johnson took office as Acting Mayor of the City of Milwaukee in late 2021. Prior to taking on his role as Acting Mayor, Johnson served as Common Council President while representing the city’s 2nd Aldermanic District.

In April of 2022, Mayor Johnson was elected as the forty-fifth chief executive of the City of Milwaukee, winning with more than seventy percent of the vote. He is the first Black Mayor elected in the city and only the fourth elected mayor in the past sixty-two years.