Water and Climate Equity

Water insecurity disproportionately affects frontline communities—those hit first and worst by climate change. Many rural, low-income, overburdened, and underresourced communities in the United States lack access to clean, reliable water and sanitation services. The Pacific Institute’s Water and Climate Equity (WCE) Program addresses these challenges by focusing on the intersection of water insecurity, climate change, and social inequity. Building on the Institute’s longstanding work on water equity, the WCE program utilizes a collaborative, co-production research approach. It works in collaboration with nonprofit and community-based organizations working in frontline communities and their partner networks. The WCE research, decision-support information, and tools are designed to meet the needs of frontline communities and the organizations that support them to strengthen the climate resilience of water and sanitation systems in the US.