This year, we’ve accomplished so much together. From hosting a diverse group of utilities, water leaders, and community partners at our One Water Summit in Pittsburgh to directly assisting 38 communities nationwide in their pursuit of funding for essential water infrastructure solutions that advance affordability, workforce, and community partnerships through our Environmental Finance Center and Water Equity Network, and releasing a landmark economic analysis on the impact of water investment on the U.S. economy in collaboration with the Value of Water Campaign, we have made significant strides toward a future where every community has access to safe and reliable water.
This year’s accomplishments would not have been possible without the dedication of our incredible members, partners, and supporters. Whether you’ve been alongside us for a few months or a decade, your partnership is critical to our collective One Water future.
We are expanding our impact by exploring new avenues for regional collaboration in workforce development and resilience, while continuing to provide innovative research and resources that empower communities. Together, we can pave the way for a sustainable water future for all. We are thrilled to share these collective achievements in our 2025 Year in Review!
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We convened One Water Summit®
2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
We held our thirteenth One Water Summit® this year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are grateful to every single one of you who joined us in making this year’s event a success! Thanks to your efforts as bridge-builders in the water sector, we are that much closer to achieving a sustainable water future for all people.
This year's Summit programming featured:
- 726 registrants from across the globe
- Over 100 speakers in four Plenaries, six Learning Labs, and 20 Concurrent Sessions
- 38 Delegations who were featured through Peer Exchanges, our new “Dock Slips,” and Commitments to Action
- A powerful celebration of ten US Water Prize winners leading innovation in our featuring a dynamic performance from Britton & the Sting, whose show MAMA weaves music, movement, and message into a captivating tribute to water’s essential role in our lives.
- The first-ever One Water Art Show that showcased the creativity of our network.
- At least one personal record in the One Water Fun Run
We're excited to continue working with all the wonderful communities we connected with at Summit. We're eager to continue the meaningful conversations we had, explore new ideas together, and keep building momentum into 2026!
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We shared our Water Workforce and Leadership Library
The Water Workforce and Leadership Library showcases inspiring, innovative examples of training, recruitment, and retention programs that are transforming traditional workforce development in the water sector. By gathering and sharing these models, we hope to help organizations connect with others facing similar challenges, opening up opportunities for workforce programs across the country to be shared, improved, and expanded.
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We’ve been actively supporting 38 communities across the nation through our National Environmental Finance Center
Our Equitable Infrastructure team is providing on-the-ground technical assistance to communities to help them access federal funds for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure improvements.
The team has recently supported Maui County's water-supply community engagement, convened national WaterTA partners in Austin, and launched a peer learning workshop in Sullivan County to strengthen local water management, collaboration, and capacity-building efforts.
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Our Water Equity Network (WEN) Taskforces made progress on local efforts to strengthen affordability, workforce, and authentic community partnerships.
Last year, we launched three new Water Equity Network Action Taskforces. These teams have made great progress this year, meeting regularly and holding peer-learning sessions to build relationships and deepen their understanding of these issues. We celebrate the dedication of every team—their eagerness to learn, listen, and build a shared foundation of relationships and knowledge. From the start, participants committed to collaborating with local partners and co-creating solutions that would reflect both community and utility needs. That spirit of partnership has defined these Taskforces and continues to guide the path ahead. We look forward to continuing to work with these forward-thinking groups into 2026! (photo: the Racial Equity and Authentic Community Partnerships Taskforce Kick-Off Meeting in San Antonio, TX)
WEN hosts its largest ever all-Network convening at One Water Summit!
In tandem with July’s One Water Summit in Pittsburgh, the US Water Alliance hosted our largest Water Equity Network convening ever, with over 110 in-person attendees. In a lively half day session, network members shared personal stories, highlighted successes, and brainstormed solutions to advance water equity in our respective communities.
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We convened water leaders from across Texas to explore how they are addressing the state's pressing water challenges through the lens of One Water.
The January convening, held in partnership with Travis County, the National Wildlife Federation, the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, and the Texas Water Development Board, included nearly 60 participants from water utilities and public agencies, private firms, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropies. This inspiring half-day Peer Dialogue on One Water leadership in Texas ignited dynamic conversations and sparked new ideas for driving meaningful change in water management across the state.
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We shared our Net Zero Fundamentals series, a resource for water and wastewater utilities committed to climate leadership.
By sharing real-world examples and clear implementation guidance on reducing greenhouse gas emissions while improving operations and financial performance, this series helps utilities embed climate action across strategy, culture, and core operations.
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We released our Greenhouse Gas Reduction Financing Guide for Water and Wastewater Utilities.
Across the country, the water sector is stepping up to reduce emissions while providing co-benefits to communities, but the work is just beginning. This report highlights those efforts and explores emerging approaches to overcome financial barriers and accelerate progress.
We released One Water Leadership Guides to help navigate the most common barriers to One Water.
Developed by the One Water Council, a collaborative cross-sector platform for leaders driving One Water management strategies, these three interconnected guides are designed to help practitioners and leaders enhance their effectiveness in solving complex water and community challenges. They offer guidance on: Being an Effective One Water Communicator, Designing and Maintaining Cross-Sector Partnerships, and Navigating Regulatory Silos and Building Toward Flexibility
Made for those looking to build their skills or develop their teams, each guide builds upon the others, outlining specific skills to deliver innovative, integrated solutions and the tools to cultivate those skills. These tools include situational practice scenarios, proven approaches, and successful case studies from across the country.
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In 2025, we celebrated a decade of bipartisan polling with the release of our latest Value of Water Index.
From voter sentiment on federal support for water systems to the percentage of Americans who have recently faced water service disruptions due to extreme weather, these results provide insights that have strong implications for water-related policy, communications, programming, and more. And while staggering at times, this year’s poll reveals greater bipartisan support for water than we’ve ever seen—showing that water must continue to be a priority at all levels of governance. We thank the bipartisan research team of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz, and Associates (D) and New Bridge Strategy (R) for conducting this polling and the Value of Water Campaign Steering Committee for supporting this work.
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The Value of Water Campaign Steering Committee launched United for Water, an opportunity to grow an even broader, stronger coalition to make the case for sustained water investment.
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We joined with communities across the country to celebrate our 11th Imagine a Day Without Water on October 16 2025!
Thank you to everyone who came together for the 11th annual Imagine a Day Without Water! Your voices, creativity, and commitment rippled across the country, reminding millions that reliable water isn’t something any of us can afford to take for granted.
Together, we made a splash. From heartfelt community events to lighthearted videos that made us smile, this year’s participants showed just how many ways there are to celebrate water. On social media alone, we saw: thousands of posts and proclamations from cities, schools, and water utilities nationwide, hundreds of creative videos and memes that captured hearts and sparked smile, and over 10 million digital impressions across the web.
Every year, a few stand-out participants remind us just how powerful creative advocacy can be. For the first time, we identified “Imagine a Day Champions.” Congratulations to these Champions who showcased creativity, humor, and innovation!
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The Value of Water Campaign released Tapping Potential: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Water Infrastructure, a landmark analysis of water infrastructure challenges, needs, and potential benefits
The report explains that while America needs to invest an additional $1.8 trillion water infrastructure funding by 2044, closing that gap could generate nearly $4.6 trillion in economic output, increase GDP by $1.5 trillion, and support over 950,000 jobs annually. Closing the gap in O&M funding for water simultaneously brings those figures to nearly $7.3 trillion, $3.9 trillion, and 1.4 million jobs per year, respectively.
The report provides the most detailed picture to date of national and state-level funding needs for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. It also highlights the dire consequences of underinvestment — including risks to public health, economic competitiveness, and community resilience — alongside the extraordinary economic return of sustained investment.
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We organized and hosted three One Water webinars
Regional partnerships, making water visible through days of action like Imagine a Day Without Water, and lessons in water equity were topics in our 2025 One Water Webinar series, all of which were free and open to the public, with hundreds joining each conversation.
We grew our membership with 10 new members
Thank you to our key partners who supported our work in 2025
Thank you to our One Water Champion and Leaders Circle Members for their deep commitment to One Water and for advancing our organization's mission and strategic priorities.
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In 2026, we'll be expanding our impact by exploring new avenues for regional collaboration in workforce development and resilience, while continuing to provide innovative research and resources that empower communities. Together, we can pave the way for a sustainable water future for all. Stay tuned for updates on our exciting projects and campaigns in the coming year! Thank you for believing in our vision and for your continued partnership.
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The US Water Alliance is a member-supported national nonprofit that aligns diverse stakeholders to develop common ground and transformational solutions to our nation’s biggest water challenges. We educate the nation on the true value of water and engage an expanding base of One Water champions, initiate new approaches and solutions to the most pressing water issues, accelerate the adoption and scaling of the mindset, practices, and policies behind the One Water approach to advance a better quality of life for all, and celebrate what works to advance the One Water movement and solutions to inspire and spread innovation in water system transformation. Our nearly 200 members and partners include utilities, public agencies, community organizations, engineering and technology firms, environmental groups, agricultural interests, labor unions, researchers, artists and culture bearers, and many others. Learn more at www.uswateralliance.org.