The US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on 26 February 2009 called on the Bureau of Reclamation to explore ways in which funds recently appropriated to Reclamation under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act for water reuse and other water projects might be used to help stretch California’s water supplies in the coming months.
Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the creation of a Federal Drought Action Team that will work cooperatively to respond to communities facing significant drought. With California currently facing one of its worst droughts in decades, the Drought Action Team will work with Governor Schwarzenegger’s state drought response team to minimize the social, economic and environmental impacts of the current drought.