Work

With our partners, we focus on securing clean, reliable water for people and nature.

Programs

We support community and nonprofit partners with scaling and accelerating their vital work. We help funders connect to and advance ambitious water strategies and systems change.

watersheds communities

Areas of Work

Groundwater

Our work and investments aim to ensure full and effective implementation of California's major groundwater sustainability law. We also explore opportunities to replicate it, to strengthen public and environmental health and sustain communities and agriculture.

Rivers

We support collaborative efforts to protect and restore the ecological health of major river basins. We currently focus on the Sacramento-San Joaquin, the Lower Colorado, Lower Snake, and Upper Rio Grande river basins.

Forests

The lakes and rivers that flow through millions of acres of US forests are our nation’s single greatest source of drinking water, as well as vital habitats for fish and wildlife. We aim to maintain essential water supplies, enhance ecosystems, and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

Safe Drinking Water

Our work and investments prioritize long-term solutions that advance the human right to water, including ensuring water is clean and affordable, treating contaminated water, and stopping pollution from entering water supplies.

Urban Resilience

Our investments help public agencies and nonprofits advance equitable and resilient stormwater projects, as well as creating new green space and building community power in water governance. We have particular focus on the implementation of Los Angeles County’s Safe Clean Water Program.

Rural Resilience

Rural resilience underpins our investments in places like California’s Central Valley. We aim to build out work to help rural communities proactively avoid and respond to water-related shocks in ways in that minimize harm and spur renewal and equity.

Program Team

Click a team member for their bio and contact information. View all Water Foundation staff.

Strategy

The Water Foundation’s strategic framework guides how we tackle urgent water problems.

 

To address both immediate needs and root causes, like social inequality and outdated infrastructure, we focus on three system interventions:

  • Broadening who makes water decisions and how
  • Changing how we move and share water
  • Strengthening the stories we tell about water

Download the strategy (PDF)