Across the country, communities are threatened by drinking water problems. Data on drinking water pollution is generally not well tracked by governments, due, in part, to the many and varied sources of contamination. In response, environmental and public health watchdogs such as the Environmental Working Group and the Natural Resources Defense Council have stepped into the breach to aggregate and visualize data on drinking water problems.

All told, 27 million people, or 1 in every 12 Americans, are served by a drinking water system with recent health-based violations.

Drinking water quality not only represents a public health crisis but reflects deep inequities and underinvestment in poor communities. Great potential exists for philanthropy to help solve this crisis. Foundations can engage by:

  • building public awareness about drinking water challenges across the country and verifying that local drinking water supplies are indeed safe;
  • identifying solutions to update water infrastructure in poor communities, and
  • securing policy and regulatory reform at the state level, and ultimately the federal level, that strengthen drinking water standards and enforcement.

Read the full article on clean and safe drinking water by Wade Crowfoot at Grantmakers In Health.