OUR PILLARS
Fresh Water
Clean, reliable water is essential to American life, for people and nature.
Across the U.S., communities face water scarcity, aging infrastructure, and degraded waterways. Water solutions are critical to public health, economic growth, agriculture, and habitat resilience.
Americans overwhelmingly support investments in healthy and secure water. The challenge is translating that support into durable funding and policy frameworks that endure.
What We Do
USNI identifies where state-based campaigns to secure and deploy transformative funding for water exist and where new or enhanced water policy tools are needed to protect water. We use these campaigns to build bipartisan policy champions, coalitions, and policy proof points that can scale to long-term federal policy outcomes. Our work includes:
Investing in high-impact state campaigns that secure transformative water funding.
Partnering with stakeholders to ensure this funding is rapidly deployed so that it benefits people and nature while building power and momentum for water
Investing in innovative approaches at the state-level to create or enhance programs for water resource management and build towards comprehensive federal programs
Commissioning research and polling to build durable bipartisan support for water funding and policy change.
Aligning philanthropic and advocacy partners around disciplined, outcome-driven plans.
Elevating successful state models to inform federal decision-makers.
In 2025, USNI supported partners who helped secure a historic $20 billion water infrastructure investment in Texas with more than 70% voter approval — demonstrating that large-scale water investment can succeed in conservative states when framed around shared values and disciplined strategy.
Our 10-year strategy for U.S. water policy aims to secure durable federal outcomes by 2035 that materially improve water quality, water security, and resilience nationwide. We do that by securing transformative funding for water, rapidly deploying that funding in a way that benefits people and nature, and driving state innovation for water management that builds towards federal action over time.
Looking Ahead