Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribal Communities
Mission
Achieve universal access to clean, safe drinking water for all Native communities in the United States.
Vision
Every Native American has the right to clean, safe, affordable water in the home ensuring a minimum quality of life.
Values
Water is Life. Access to clean and safe water is essential to public health, educational attainment, and economic development. Communities without clean water struggle to thrive. This is not welfare. Access to clean water is a basic right owed to Native Americans as part of the promises made in exchange for their ancestral homelands.
Historical Inequities Persist Today
of Tribal homes do not have access to reliable water sources, clean drinking water, or basic sanitation.
Native American households are 19x more likely than white households to lack indoor plumbing.
Over the last century, the U.S. federal government’s investment in modern water and sanitation systems largely bypassed Native communities.
Public Health
The COVID-19 pandemic provided a stark reminder that access to clean water is a matter of life or death.
COVID-19 had a disproportionate impact on Native Americans, affecting them at a rate 3.5 times higher than the white population.
Widespread lack of access to running water on Indian reservations has left Native communities more vulnerable to respiratory and skin infections and lung disease, as well as other acute and long-term viral illnesses and health risks