News

Water access must be part of our COVID recovery

June 1, 2020

Radhika Fox, US Water Alliance CEO, and Elizabeth Cisar, senior environment program officer at The Joyce Foundation in Chicago. They co-authored an oped for Crain's about how a COVID recovery must include a holistic approach to water access as well. | More >

Voters Overwhelmingly Favor Investment in Water Infrastructure According to New Poll

April 28, 2020

A new poll by the Value of Water Campaign released today shows that 84 percent of American voters want state and federal leaders to invest in water infrastructure. The near-unanimous support amid the COVID-19 pandemic reveals that voters value water and want elected officials to prioritize investing in infrastructure - specifically, drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. | More >

Washington Post: It’s almost 2020, and 2 million Americans still don’t have running water, according to new report

December 11, 2019

By Frances Stead Sellers, Washington Post

Wagner is one of more than 2 million Americans who do not have running water and sanitation, according to “Closing the Water Access Gap in the United States.” The report, released by two national nonprofit organizations last month, outlines stark, race-based inequalities: Native American households are 19 times as likely as white households to lack indoor plumbing; blacks and Latinos are twice as likely. - Originally published in the Washington Post  | More >

Residents In Kentucky's Martin County Face Escalating Water Bills

October 25, 2019

By Sydney Boles, NPR

In a rural coal region of Kentucky, moves to fix a notoriously dirty water supply have created a new crisis. Many are now unable to afford their water bills and are drinking water from other sources. | More >

How the growing “One Water” movement is not only helping the environment but also saving millions of dollars

October 21, 2019

By Erica Gies, Independent Reporter for Ensia

The Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District in Wisconsin had a problem. Due to tightening state and federal regulations, it had to help decrease the amount of phosphorus in the 540-square-mile (1,400-square-kilometer) Yahara River watershed. It was already removing 95 percent of the phosphorus from its wastewater effluent; new phosphorus level limits would require the equivalent of 96 percent removal. | More >

The credible case for One Water

September 17, 2019
By Emily Warren and Radhika Fox, for Trib Talk

The state of Texas is a behemoth. At some 268,820 square miles — from the Piney Woods of East Texas, the Texas Hill Country and the Texas Panhandle to the desert mountains of West Texas and the Texas Gulf Coast — the Lone Star State encompasses disparate climate regions, each with varied economic, social and environmental drivers. 
 
As climate change continues, each of these areas will change. As a general rule, scientists predict a significantly warmer and drier climate — with occasional catastrophic flooding. And water, which is the lifeblood of, well, pretty much everything, is at stake. 

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Building a water resilient future for all Texans

September 16, 2019

By Sharlene Leurig, for Austin American-Statesman

After heavy rains last winter and early this summer, Texas is seeing a rapid return to hot, bone-dry conditions. While we watch our lawns brown and wait for the rains to return, the age-old question echoes again, “Does fast-growing Texas, which is adding 1,000 new residents every day, have enough water to weather future prolonged droughts?” | More >

Louisville Takes a Jobs-First Approach to Water Equity

August 28, 2019

By Emily Nonko, Next City

The Metropolitan Sewer District of Louisville, Kentucky, might seem an unlikely place to jumpstart a conversation on more equitable cities. But after Mayor Greg Fisher made economic inclusion a priority of his administration, MSD’s chief executive Tony Parrott was inspired. He knew barriers existed in low-income communities to participate in the local water infrastructure workforce. In the face of climate change, as addressing that infrastructure has become more pressing, he wanted to prioritize hiring members of the community not traditionally recruited to that sector. | More >

Water access is a problem in the U.S., affecting minority and rural groups the most

March 22, 2019

By Dana Bate, WHYY

When it comes to a lack of clean water, many Americans think of the problem as one confined to the developing world. And, indeed, of the 2 billion people worldwide who don’t have access to safe drinking water, the majority live outside the United States. | More >

No Tap or Toilet: Over One Million Americans Lack Access to Running Water

March 21, 2019

Produced by Rob Gunther and Alexandra Botti, PRI, WNYC 

Broadcast Audio I Listen here | More >