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“It’s the 21^st century and there are still people in America who have to haul water in each morning and haul wastewater out every night.”

Communities living without access to water and sanitation—more than two million people in the United States—have known for decades that water access is critical to public health. Without basic services, communities are more vulnerable to a range of health risks, from water-borne infections to diabetes. Now, as the nation faces Covid-19, the need for safe, clean water in every home is more urgent than ever. Access to basic services is the foundation for building community resilience to crises.

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Five years ago, I became Director of the Value of Water Campaign. When I talked to people across the water sector about what the Value of Water should focus on, I’d often hear some variation on: “The infrastructure dialogue is always roads and bridges. What about water?”  

With much of our water and sewer infrastructure hiding below ground, water is often out-of-sight and out-of-mind. It’s hard to do a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new water main. As a result, water is often left out of the conversation about infrastructure, even though our water and sewer systems face the same problems with age, underinvestment, and new climate threats that our roads and bridges face.

The Value of Water Campaign set about to change that. We sought out partners and allies to help us elevate water in the infrastructure conversation. We joined with newly found partners to co-create messages and high-impact events that included water. And a few weeks ago, we co-hosted the first ever Presidential Candidate Forum on Infrastructure. I sat in the ballroom listening to four presidential candidates outline their infrastructure visions, and they all talked at length about water. Water was the star of the show! Water wasn’t out of site and out of mind anymore. | More >

The Water Equity Taskforce’s capstone convening took place last week in Camden, NJ. This gathering of 80 utility, community and environmental nonprofit, city government, and philanthropy partners concluded the Alliance’s two-year collaborative project with seven cities (Atlanta, Buffalo, Camden, Cleveland, Louisville, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh). City teams shared insights from their partnerships and progress towards building equitable approaches to water management and discussed their commitments and plans for expanding water equity in their cities and throughout the country. | More >

The Value of Water Campaign is so proud to be a part of an outstanding group of labor unions and associations to host the first-ever convening of presidential candidates to discuss issues surrounding America’s infrastructure. This event has been months in the making, and we couldn’t be more excited to share the news. Gathering all the leading presidential candidates together to hear their plans for America’s infrastructure and ask questions about all the most important challenges facing our pipes, ports, roads, and rails is going to be a great opportunity to put infrastructure – and water infrastructure – in the national spotlight.  | More >