Supporting United States
Water Access
There are more than 2 million people in the United States without running water or a flush toilet.
We believe this is completely unacceptable. Water For People launched a United States Country Program to bring our expertise and experience to the table as we engage with other organizations to build a collaborative domestic water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. The program’s strategy focuses on collaboration, collective action, bridging partnerships, and supporting the meaningful participation in decisions and programs of communities most impacted by the access gap.
Water For People’s U.S. Country Program strengthens the sector through a foundation of collaboration and collective action, ensuring local partners and communities are supported across the country.
More than 2 million people in the U.S. live without running water and basic indoor plumbing, and many more without sanitation.¹
Native American households are 19x more likely than white households to lack indoor plumbing. African American and Latino/a households are nearly 2x more likely.²
Allowing millions to live without water access is costing the US economy $8.58 billion each year.³
"The big key to our success in this sphere is through partnerships, coalition-building, knowledge exchanges, and really using our voice and platform to advocate for equitable access."
– Chris Freimund
U.S. WASH Senior Program Manager, Water For People
National Impact and Influence
In 2023, Water For People partnered with DigDeep to co-found the Vessel™ Collective, comprising a dozen domestic WASH organizations taking collaborative action to close the water access gap for every person in the nation. We are currently a member of the coalition’s Steering Committee and actively support Vessel’s various efforts and working groups. Vessel™ is the first step in building a formal, robust, and dedicated United States WASH sector: a network of nonprofits, funders, academics, government agencies, and other community champions to share knowledge, strategic coordination, and engage in more effective policymaking.
Our current activities cover policy and advocacy alignment, national convening planning, technical assistance coordination, and multi-regional working group engagement.
Regional Collaboration and Networks
Beyond our national scale work, Water For People’s U.S. Program operates at the regional, statewide, and local levels. Water For People is a co-chair for the Vessel Collective’s Southwest/Mountain West regional group. This group focuses on bringing together local actors across states to learn from challenges, share opportunities, and strengthen areas for collaboration. Water For People's Southwest regional work builds upon our Arizona WASH Program, supporting statewide and local collaboratives and networks to scale local programming to a broader region.
Over time, we hope to provide systems-strengthening support to coalitions, networks, and partners in this broader region, as well as in other hot-spot regions across the U.S. that are acutely experiencing the water access gap.
State Arizona WASH Program
The U.S. Program at Water For People leads network-building and coalition support to increase collective action in Arizona and the US-Mexico Borderlands. We partner with The Arizona Water4All (AW4A) Coalition, a pillar of the Water Innovation Initiative at Arizona State University, which combines social and physical infrastructure to address water insecurity at the household and local-systems levels. This coalition serves as a network among diverse stakeholders, partners, and community members by strengthening a shared identity for collective action to address the water access gap in Arizona.
We collaborate to connect Arizona, the Borderlands, and the Southwestern community with water decision-makers and researchers to strengthen collective action and advocate for place-based needs around water access, quality, and security in the region.
Updates Our United States Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Access Work
Vessel Releases National Roadmap to Close the U.S. Water Access Gap by 2040
Sector-wide effort sets a 2040 goal of safe running water and working sanitation in every American home, with a 5x economic return; 130+ organizations gather May 5-7 in D.C. to put the plan into action
Shared Water, Shared Border: Water Leadership Institute fosters connections in Arizona and Mexico
Water doesn't follow geopolitical borders, so why should water advocacy? In areas like the Sonoran Desert, encouraging budding water leaders from both sides of the border to collaborate is key to community resilience and safeguarding water security for generations to come. That's why the latest
Arizona's emerging water leaders: Looking toward the future
I have spent the last two years as the community engagement specialist for Arizona Water for All, a pillar of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative.
Our Team
Chris Freimund
U.S. WASH Senior Program Manager
B. Nieves I. Vázquez
Arizona WASH Program Specialist
Connect With Us
Reach out to us if you would like to learn more or engage with our work in the United States.