Water

When we use powerful 21st-century approaches worthy of water’s essential role in our lives and communities, we’ll have clean and plentiful water today and tomorrow.

New ideas and ready-to-go solutions can provide us with safe water coming from every tap, cities strengthened by cleaner lakes and rivers, and enough water for people and nature. “Smart Water” management, a new integrated approach that values all water, can accelerate and deliver these results by embracing each step needed to protect water for people and nature.

How We Do It

More than ever, all water is valuable and solutions are at hand to protect it. Our strategies include supporting:

Implementing Smart Water Management in Cities

We support local efforts in cities from coast-to-coast to implement Smart Water approaches, like green infrastructureLooking for more information? You can dive deeper with these resources:

— Blueprint for One Water, a report describing how to advance Smart Water management

— Video and other resources about the benefits of Smart Water management

— The Value of Green Infrastructure, A Guide to Recognizing Its Economic, Environmental, and Social Benefits, a report on green infrastructure's multiple benefits

Want to go further? These organizations offer a wide range of information on water resources:

— EPA: Green Infrastructure

— American Rivers Integrated Water Management
1, that can reduce water pollution, add parks and other amenities, reduce flooding, and augment water supply. We fund leaders who are bringing this new thinking and bold practice to the urgent task of ensuring safe, sufficient, and secure water, creating more resilient communities, healthier waters, and stronger economies.

Building 21st-Century Water Policy

We support implementation of policies that stimulate investment in Smart Water approaches or facilitate their implementation. We fund efforts locally and nationally to reduce barriers to new policies that ensure clean, reliable water is available for all.Looking for more information? You can dive deeper with these resources:

— Blueprint for One Water, a report describing how to advance Smart Water management

— Video and other resources about the benefits of Smart Water management

— The Value of Green Infrastructure, A Guide to Recognizing Its Economic, Environmental, and Social Benefits, a report on green infrastructure's multiple benefits

Want to go further? These organizations offer a wide range of information on water resources:

— EPA: Green Infrastructure

— American Rivers Integrated Water Management
1

Increasing Peer-to-Peer Sharing

We support information sharing efforts in and between urban watersheds that are already scaling up new water management practices or thinking about doing so. Connecting stakeholders so they can share information is among the most effective means of scaling Smart Water practices from city to city across our nation.

Looking for more information? You can dive deeper with these resources:

— Blueprint for One Water, a report describing how to advance Smart Water management

— Video and other resources about the benefits of Smart Water management

— The Value of Green Infrastructure, A Guide to Recognizing Its Economic, Environmental, and Social Benefits, a report on green infrastructure's multiple benefits

Want to go further? These organizations offer a wide range of information on water resources:

— EPA: Green Infrastructure

— American Rivers Integrated Water Management

Implementing Smart Water solutions creates impressive results for people and nature, reducing the strains brought on by climate change, population growth, failing infrastructure, and pollution.

Video: Pisces Partners on a One Water Future

Grantee Spotlight

Freshwater Future

Freshwater Future works to ensure the healthy future of waters in the Great Lakes region by being a catalyst for community action that strengthens policies designed to address communities’ access to clean, safe, and affordable water.

With support from the Pisces Foundation, Freshwater Future bridges the gap between frontline community needs and policy solutions such as affordable water rates, emergency assistance programs, water shut-off preventions, and full lead service line replacements.

Freshwater Future provides funding and technical assistance to mobilize community groups into Community Water Councils to impact regional policies that can be replicated nationally.

The Flint Community Lab, a project of the Flint Development Center and Freshwater Future, has gained national recognition as an innovative solution to address water issues at the community level. In this video, Flint youth talk about what the Lab means for their community. A virtual tour of the Flint Community Lab is available here.

Indigenous Environmental Network

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) works to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth from contamination and exploitation by strengthening, respecting, and adhering to Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Law.

With support from the Pisces Foundation, IEN builds power among Native communities to engage in climate justice and water equity movement-building efforts. To build power and achieve their goals, IEN amplifies Native voices through communications support, organizes advocacy campaigns to initiate direct action, builds coalitions to impact policy at all levels, and provides financial support and technical assistance for rapid response efforts – including COVID relief and recovery.

IEN has been a key supporter of the movement to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline – one of the most high-profile Indigenous water and climate justice issues of our time. In this video, IEN joins the 93-mile relay run led by member group Standing Rock Youth Council.