Water Hub Blog

In my 10+ years of work on water, I've seen a steady increase in the amount of attention this vital resource receives in the press and in politics. This is partly driven by crises like Flint and Winter Storm Uri, but we wouldn't see the current level of awareness without organizing from every corner of the [...]

More than 9 in 10 voters (93%) believe fixing America’s outdated and unsafe drinking water systems should be a top priority for President Biden’s economic recovery plan, according to our new national poll. The American Rescue Plan, passed earlier this month, is sending billions to Tribes, cities, and states to fund critical drinking and wastewater upgrades and [...]

Following up on last summer's analysis of water news in COVID times, the Water Hub team just completed a February 2021 Western water media scan to see how coverage of our issues has been impacted by recent events like the election, administration change, etc.  We found that political news had indeed crowded out many water stories in the period from [...]

If you're in comms, submitting op-eds is probably part of your go-to arsenal of tactics. And if you're an advocate, you've probably written one or tried to place one. But are they really an effective tool?  Last month, a panel of media experts from Water Hub and Climate Nexus led To Op-Ed or Not: How to [...]

Last winter, the Water Hub team met with our Advisory Group* for the first time. We ate arepas and discussed our Western water landscape assessment and the theory of change we created to guide our work in service of the water movement. Our advisors counseled us to focus on a few key issues — we chose drinking water, climate change, and [...]

With Congress considering billions of dollars in infrastructure funding to help rebuild the economy, we worked with WaterNow Alliance on a video making the case that the next wave of water investments should focus on green and localized infrastructure.  From green streets to stormwater parks and on-site water recycling systems, we are seeing communities across the country embrace [...]

When I think about what it means to lead with equity in the movement space, I tend to think about what impact I can make as an individual. Rarely do I have the opportunity to think about how we can be equitable on a grander scale and implement a strategy like redistributing funding.  As activists and [...]

This year’s catastrophic Western wildfires made headlines across the country. With rains returning to much of the region, we invited four experts to talk with us about the intersection of fire and western watersheds in the age of climate change. The panel discussed wildfire impacts on water ranging from drinking water safety to stream health and [...]

When I started my career as a reporter 20 years ago, I didn’t know the first thing about power and voice. I knew that I wanted to uncover truth and to share stories that might help people look at issues in a new way. I wanted to connect with people over their lived experiences and to [...]

I am thrilled to share the virtual recording with you of our latest workshop at Water Hub about Digital Organizing. I facilitated this workshop in partnership with Jerry Jimenez at Community Water Center, who is a trusted partner and our workshop VIP.  That's right, Jerry's been to every single Water Hub workshop so far (!!) so we [...]