We entered 2022 on the heels of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—an opportunity to expand One Water policies and programs on a historic scale. As we exit this year, we leave with a foundation for bringing equitable and sustainable water opportunities to life.
The US Water Alliance is proud to convene a growing network of dedicated members, partners, and supporters who work hard to collectively create One Water opportunities and build a sustainable water future for all.
This work isn't possible without our talented and driven team, who have worked tirelessly to accelerate our mission across the nation. We are excited to share this year’s key achievements with you in our 2022 Year in Review!
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We hosted One Water Summit 2022 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The first in-person Summit we’ve held since 2019 was a major success, bringing together a diverse group of more than 800 participants from 263 US cities to advance our One Water future together.
This year’s Summit featured 32 Workshops, Institutes, and Site Visits led by a wide array of One Water champions; a fireside chat between Mitch Landrieu, White House Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Coordinator, and Mami Hara, US Water Alliance CEO; and recognition of the importance of One Water from United States Vice President Kamala Harris. One Water Summit concluded with the event’s 41 Delegations sharing their Commitments to Action in the upcoming year.
We were inspired by the passion and enthusiasm exhibited at this year’s Summit, and we look forward to continuing this momentum during One Water Summit 2023 in Tucson, Arizona, next fall!
The Alliance was selected by the US Environmental Protection Agency as a national Environmental Finance Center (EFC)
Due to the 2021 passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and our expanding work to embed equity in water management, the Alliance launched our Equitable Infrastructure Initiative, outlined in our Principles for Equitable Infrastructure Implementation. And in November, the US EPA accepted our application to become an EFC to help communities across the nation access federal funding and receive targeted technical assistance.
We look forward to using our new position to deliver equitable and climate-resilient water approaches, infrastructure, and benefits nationwide—especially to the communities that have been underserved and underinvested in for far too long.
We expanded the reach and deepened the connections in our Water Equity Network
We welcomed Kansas City, MO; Fort Collins, CO; Bloomington, MN; Prince William County, VA; Jackson, MS; and Raleigh, NC, into the Water Equity Network, which now has 34 City Learning Teams made up of 39 utilities, 33 community based or frontline organizations, and 27 other partners.
In addition to over a dozen virtual and in-person regional cohort meetings, the Water Equity Network held its first all-network in-person convening at One Water Summit 2022.
Thanks to the Network’s successes in advancing equitable water management and our growing internal Water Equity Network team, the Network is on track to encompass 75 cities by the end of 2025.
We celebrated our eight US Water Prize winners
The City and County of Honolulu, HI, Schneider Electric/Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority, Healthy Community Services, Jordan Lake One Water, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Maura Jarvis of Philadelphia Water Department, Jourdan Imani Keith, and Great Lakes News Collaborative all took home prizes during One Water Summit 2022 for their outstanding work in sustainable, integrated, and inclusive solutions to our nation’s water challenges.
We launched a Net Zero vision for the Water Sector
Understanding that the water sector can be a major catalyst for climate solutions, we united utilities, consulting firms, local government agencies, environmental organizations, community partners, and social practice artists in the sector to address the climate crisis and foster equitable solutions through adaptation, resilience, and mitigation strategies.
Through this initiative, we released Water’s Net Zero Plus: A Call to Action for Climate Mitigation in early 2022—a report to detail the US water sector’s vision for 2050, as well as the cultural transformations needed for an equitable and decarbonized water future.
We released our Racial Equity Toolkit for utilities
This toolkit was developed as a self-assessment tool for water utilities to improve their internal and external racial equity practices through a four-phased approach that outlines clear steps and outcomes to be achieved.
We launched the inaugural State of the One Water Field Survey
The findings we've recently gathered from folks across the water sector are helping us identify barriers and anticipate needs to propel the One Water movement forward. We will be sharing survey insights in 2023.
We applauded 50 years of the Clean Water Act and released our Clean Water Act at 50 video series
We celebrated this major milestone by gathering One Water leaders to share their perspectives on the history of the Clean Water Act, what it means to them and to their communities, their hopes for the future of water management, and how water management must continue to evolve and grow over the next 50 years.
We joined our first international partnership to foster knowledge-sharing in advancing a climate secure future
In April 2022, the US Water Alliance, the Embassy of Denmark in Washington DC, and the Danish Water and Wastewater Association signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote cross-cultural learning on climate mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across water management and operations.
Through this MoU, the US Water Alliance united a 10-City Utility Greenhouse Gas Reduction Cohort, comprised of members from some of our nation’s largest water utilities. This fall, the cohort embarked on a five-day greenhouse gas and climate resilience benchmarking tour in Denmark to learn strategies from their Danish counterparts on achieving Net Zero emissions.
We made great strides in our water affordability work, releasing The Path to Universally Affordable Water Access: Guiding Principles for the Water Sector
In this groundbreaking report, utilities and community-based organizations explore solutions and develop guiding principles to enable the financial resiliency of water utilities and end the practice of shutoffs for low-income individuals. These ideas and methods are forging a new, equitable path toward water affordability and will guide our work for years to come.
We released Making Water a Public Good to shift the status quo in national water perception
As part of our Recovering Stronger initiative, this paper outlines what is needed from federal, state, and local leaders to ensure that water is viewed and treated as a public good and made available and accessible for all.
We released Catalyzing Community-Driven Utility Consolidations and Partnerships to address our country’s fragmented water systems
Through our Recovering Stronger work, this report examines strategies, tactics, and resources for community-driven consolidations and partnerships in the state of California. The lessons learned and ideas presented can spark similar dialogues and progress in communities across the nation.
We concluded our first-ever Arts Accelerator program by fostering four artist-utility partnerships
Alliance member utilities located in Little Rock, AR; Madison, WI; Philadelphia, PA; and Tucson, AZ, established partnerships with local artists and accelerated collaborative action on water challenges. Their findings were released in our compendium, The Power of Arts and Culture: One Water Partnerships for Change.
We began a two-year partnership with the Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA)
To support WUCA and its strategic goal to incorporate equity into its water utility climate adaptation work, we launched a Climate Action Cohort in our Water Equity Network to explore the intersections of water equity and climate action through peer exchanges, case studies, institutes, and more.
Our first round of Mentoring Connections Rising Professionals released their insights in a special edition of our One Water Insight Interviews
Insights from this first cohort demonstrate a hopeful path forward for the One Water movement, as well as what we can do to help ensure this upcoming generation can meet our current and future water challenges.
The second round of our Mentoring Connections Program will launch in 2023, where Rising Professionals in the water sector will work with known Changemakers to develop the essential capacities needed to advance One Water across the nation.
We held six One Water Leadership Institutes
These institutes, which highlighted climate, green infrastructure, affordability, arts, adaptive leadership, and water equity were hosted both virtually and in person during One Water Summit 2022.
The Value of Water Campaign released its Diversifying the Water Workforce Toolkit
This toolkit of customizable communications assets was produced to help the sector broaden the appeal of water work for groups most underrepresented in the sector, as the current water workforce is older, more racially homogenous, and more male than the communities that water utilities serve.
We hosted our eighth annual Imagine a Day Without Water
Participants from 40 states—and even across the globe—helped us engage with millions over social media to communicate how water is essential, invaluable, and in need of investment, as well as to raise awareness for the over two million individuals in our country who don’t need to imagine a day without water.
Our seventh annual Value of Water Index revealed continued support for federal water infrastructure investment
Our Value of Water Campaign surveyed over 1,000 American voters to conclude that while only half of the country was familiar with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), 75% supported the water infrastructure investments outlined in the BIL once they were informed.
We celebrated Value of Water Campaign utility members who have been advancing equitable infrastructure opportunities in their communities
Leveraging a mix of state and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, Seattle Public Utilities, Kansas City Water, and Buffalo Sewer Authority are implementing sustainable water infrastructure projects that will benefit their service areas for years to come.
We welcomed 15 new members to the US Water Alliance network in 2022
Thank you to our key partners who supported our work in 2022
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As we enter a new year, we are especially grateful for our network of members, philanthropic partners, and supporters who have helped the US Water Alliance accomplish these major feats and who will continue to work alongside us to forward an equitable and sustainable water future for all.
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The US Water Alliance advances policies and programs to secure a sustainable water future for all. Established in 2008, the Alliance is a nonprofit organization that educates the nation on the true value of water and water equity, accelerates the adoption of One Water principles and solutions, and celebrates innovation in water management. The Alliance brings together diverse interests to identify and advance common-ground, achievable solutions to our nation's most pressing water challenges. Our nearly 200 members and partners include community leaders, water providers, public officials, business leaders, environmental organizations, policy organizations, and more.