Part of our role at the Water Hub is to try and make sense of the headlines: what water news is getting traction, and what’s missing from the media. And sometimes, it feels like every day a new horror awaits. Headlines about sewer spills and infrastructure failures, ecological destruction along the U.S.-Mexico border, global water bankruptcy, political fights over clean water access in rural communities, snow drought in the West, and deadly Winter Storm Fern in the rest.

These disasters can leave us feeling overwhelmed and disconnected. Water is always in the news, but it often feels like it’s told through fragmented and isolated crises rather than a collective story. Instead of our annual tradition predicting the top water stories for the year ahead, I wanted to look at these individual storylines — from extreme weather to the rise of data centers — as interconnected parts of a larger system. How we tell water stories will shape whether water remains a local concern or becomes a national responsibility.

Understanding these narrative gaps, what voices are missing, and what opportunities exist to tell hopeful stories of progress help us support our partners and advance a relationship with water rooted in reciprocity and collective responsibility. I’ve put these thoughts in a new blog and hope to continue the conversation with you all.