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Water independence for 1 billion+ people
The Water Foundation
Water connects everything. Our approach does too. We bring capital, technology and policy together to turn proven solutions into lasting water resilience.
The Water Foundation
6 hubs
The Water Foundation
3 verticals
The Water Foundation
SDGs 6, 13 and 14 aligned
The Water Foundation
1B+ lives targeted
The Water Foundation
Water. The defining issue of our time.
The Water Foundation
Collaborating from Munich, Dubai, Delhi, Vaduz, Amsterdam and Nairobi
The Water Foundation
Water is becoming the world's most critical resource. As scarcity and contamination rise, so does the urgency for bold, scalable solutions.
The Water Foundation
Wide-open weak spots in water strategies and implementation.
The Water Foundation
21 of the world's 37 largest aquifers are being depleted faster than they can be replenished.
Richey et al., Water Resources Research, Quantifying renewable groundwater stress with GRACE, 2015
Water assets are underpriced, fragmented, and underprotected.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation is stepping up to fill this gap at a systems level, using systems level and first principles thinking.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation is set up to tackle a core blind spot of humankind.
The Water Foundation
Where water systems are thought through and solved for, livelihoods are safeguarded.
The Water Foundation
Where water security is achieved, peace, socio-political stability and health follow.
The Water Foundation
Where resilience is built by a water innovation ecosystem, returns stabilise and become sustainable.
The Water Foundation
And where water circularity drives productivity, prosperity scales, both in impact and investment potential.
The Water Foundation
420 water conflict events in 2024
Pacific Institute, Pacific Institute Analysis Finds Surge in Reported Water-Related Violence, 2025; Pacific Institute, Water Conflict Chronology 2025 Update, fact sheet, 2025; Pacific Institute, Water Conflict Chronology, fact sheet, 2024; Pacific Institute, 2023 Was a Record Year for Violence Over Water Resources Across the Globe, 2024; The Water Diplomat, Pacific Institute update: 2023 was a record year for violence over water resources, 2024
$4.30 returned for every dollar invested in water and sanitation
Hutton, Journal of Water and Health, Global costs and benefits of reaching universal coverage of sanitation and drinking-water supply, 2013; UN News, Every dollar invested in water, sanitation brings four-fold return in costs, 2014
Over 80% of the world's wastewater is discharged without treatment.
UN-Water, UN World Water Development Report 2017, Wastewater: The Untapped Resource, 2017; ReliefWeb, 2017 UN World Water Development Report, Wastewater: The Untapped Resource, 2017
About 3% of climate finance reached water from 2016 to 2020; over 90% of disasters are water-related.
UNEP, Climate Change and Water-Related Disasters, 2024; UNDRR, Action needed on water and disasters, 2018; IWMI, Explainer: Climate finance and water, 2024; WaterAid, Climate finance flows for water: November 2022 update, 2022
1 in 4 people, 2.1 billion, still lack safely managed drinking water.
WHO and UNICEF, 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water, 2025
Strategic focus areas where we deploy capital and expertise to maximise impact and returns across three investment vehicles, from early-stage ideation to industrial-scale deployment, each feeding the next.
The Water Foundation
We identify the best water IP and ideas, build teams around them, and provide the necessary capital and resources for success. Core Strategy
The Water Foundation
We invest in the most promising existing teams and technologies, integrating them into the venture ecosystem to accelerate their growth. Growth Focus
The Water Foundation
We acquire and enhance established players and hidden champions within the water cycle to build even greater impact and value. Scale & Impact
The Water Foundation
Our integrated approach creates a continuous cycle of innovation, investment, and impact across the water ecosystem
The Water Foundation
Each component of our ecosystem feeds into the next, creating a self-reinforcing cycle that accelerates water innovation. From early-stage ideation to industrial-scale deployment, we ensure that promising solutions receive the support they need at every stage of their journey.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation is a mission-driven entity acting as both a charitable organisation and strategic investor, anchoring a global capital stack to advance SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and improve the lives of 1 billion people through resilient, equitable access to clean water.
The Water Foundation
Based in Munich, Dubai, Delhi, Vaduz, Amsterdam and Nairobi, we form a cross-border, non-partisan initiative to enhance water independence, affecting peace through socio-political stability, and creating net gains in shared prosperity through positive impacts on health, food, and land.
The Water Foundation
Strategic capacity. The Water Foundation empowers individuals, organisations, and states to develop strategic capacity, increase resilience, and shape circular water and resource infrastructures for the future, through knowledge, cooperation, and systemic innovation.
The Water Foundation
Water strategies. We develop water strategies and solutions across the water cycle and for each and every water challenge. We enable the research, development and scaling of new or hidden technologies.
The Water Foundation
We want to create real and measurable transformation. To achieve this, we connect the brightest minds, set priorities, provide action impulses, and thus create sustainable and effective results.
The Water Foundation
Read the strategy behind the three investment vehicles and bring your expertise.
The Water Foundation
Deploy capital across the three investment vehicles, for impact and for returns.
The Water Foundation
Join a network of partners across the private and the public sector.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation empowers individuals, organisations, and states to develop strategic capacity, increase resilience, and shape circular water and resource infrastructures for the future, through knowledge, cooperation, and systemic innovation.
The Water Foundation
25 countries, housing one-quarter of the global population, face extremely high water stress each year, regularly using up almost their entire available water supply.
WRI, 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress, 2023; WRI, Aqueduct 4.0 Current and Future Country Rankings, 2023
At least 50% of the world's population, around 4 billion people, live under highly water-stressed conditions for at least one month of the year.
WRI, 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress, 2023
The most water-stressed regions are the Middle East and North Africa, where 83% of the population is exposed to extremely high water stress, and South Asia, where 74% is exposed.
WRI, 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress, 2023
Water stress, the ratio of water demand to renewable supply, measures the competition over local water resources.
WRI, 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress, 2023; WRI, Aqueduct 4.0: Updated Decision-Relevant Global Water Risk Indicators, 2023
189 countries ranked: 25 extremely high, 22 high, 23 medium-high, 35 low-medium, 59 low and 25 with no data
The 25 countries at extremely high, in the order of Aqueduct's score: Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar, tied at the highest score, 5; then the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Botswana, Iran, Jordan, Chile, San Marino, Belgium, Greece, Tunisia, Namibia, South Africa, Iraq, India and Syria
About
Securing our water future through innovation, investment, and impact.
The Water Foundation
Empowering the future of water through innovation, collaboration, and strategic action.
The Water Foundation
Geopolicy + Capital + Technology × Transformation at Scale = A Water-resilient Future
The Water Foundation
We are systemically rethinking the intersection of Geopolicy, Technology, Capital to reach water independence at scale. Climate, water and energy are one system, yet they are governed, financed and built in silos. The Water Foundation connects deep methodological knowledge across policy, technology and capital, turning systems thinking into implementation. We are building the umbrella platform for systemic water action.
The Water Foundation
We bring together the people, capital, technology and policy needed to transform how water systems are understood, financed and strengthened, turning fragmented action into lasting, measurable resilience.
The Water Foundation
We convene founders, scientists, investors, policymakers and operators who challenge convention, work across disciplines and have the conviction to act.
The Water Foundation
We equip cities, organisations and countries with the knowledge, tools and partnerships to strengthen resilience, modernise water systems and make better decisions for the future.
The Water Foundation
We connect policy, technology and capital so that proven solutions can move faster, scale further and deliver durable outcomes across the water cycle.
The Water Foundation
Learn about our mission and the principles that guide our work.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation is set up to tackle a core blind spot of humankind: despite its existential importance, water remains misunderstood in many global agendas, under-prioritised, underfunded, and under-strategised.
The Water Foundation
The core blind spot of humankind manifests in three critical dimensions.
The Water Foundation
Three dimensions, one system.
The Water Foundation
Water security remains fragmented across global agendas. Owned by everyone, led by no one.
The Water Foundation
Only around 3% of global climate finance went to water-related projects between 2016 and 2020.
IWMI, Explainer: Climate finance and water, 2024; WaterAid, Climate finance flows for water: November 2022 update, 2022
The world doesn't lack water solutions, it lacks scalable pathways to deploy and finance them where they matter most for water resilience and security.
The Water Foundation
Over 90% of disasters are water-related.
UNEP, Climate Change and Water-Related Disasters, 2024; UNDRR, Action needed on water and disasters, 2018
Most climate finance still goes to cutting emissions rather than to adaptation, which is what holds water's share of the whole so low.
Climate Policy Initiative, Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021, 2021
Within adaptation finance, water and wastewater took $17 billion a year in 2019 and 2020, 37% of the total.
Climate Policy Initiative, Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021, 2021
Water and freshwater ecosystems were worth about $58 trillion in 2021, 60 per cent of global GDP.
WWF, The High Cost of Cheap Water, 2023
2.1 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
3.4 billion lacked safely managed sanitation in 2024
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
over 80% of the world's wastewater returns to the environment untreated
UN-Water, UN World Water Development Report 2017, Wastewater: The Untapped Resource, 2017
$260 billion in economic losses annually from inadequate water supply and sanitation in low- and middle-income countries
74% of all natural disasters between 2001 and 2018 were water-related
UNESCO and UN-Water, United Nations World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change, 2020
$1 trillion+ water technology market by 2030
The Water Foundation
Among the 2.1 billion people still lacking access to safely managed drinking water in 2024, two thirds (1.4 billion) had a basic service, 287 million used limited services, 302 million used unimproved sources and 106 million still used surface water (61 million fewer people used surface water than in 2015).
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
Of them, 1.9 billion have basic services, 560 million limited, 555 million unimproved and 354 million practise open defecation.
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
The convergence of crisis and opportunity in the world's most critical resource.
The Water Foundation
Water is not only the world's most vital resource, it's also the one where capital can affect the most change.
The Water Foundation
Water is the last big scarcity play.
The Water Foundation
Water remains systematically undervalued and underrepresented in financial decision-making, despite its fundamental role across the global economy: it is not effectively priced into financial systems. Closing this gap creates opportunities to combine measurable impact with long-term economic value.
The Water Foundation
Water is where capital can affect the most change: the highest impact multiple amongst natural resources.
The Water Foundation
The need runs into trillions of dollars, while water-related projects received only about 3% of global climate finance between 2016 and 2020.
OECD, Financing Water: Investing in Sustainable Growth, 2018; World Economic Forum, Why investment in water is crucial to tackling the climate crisis, 2024; IWMI, Explainer: Climate finance and water, 2024
Together, growing demand, technological innovation and the persistent financing gap create significant opportunities for investment in water solutions.
The Water Foundation
The convergence of breakthrough technologies, compelling returns, and measurable impact creates unprecedented investment potential in water innovation.
The Water Foundation
Water is quickly becoming the world's most critical resource. As scarcity and contamination rise, so does the urgency for bold, scalable solutions.
The Water Foundation
In 2024, investor interest surged in technologies like desalination, advanced treatment, and PFAS destruction, solutions that are vital for environmental resilience and rich with market potential.
The Water Foundation
$114 billion a year in capital investment is what meeting the drinking water and sanitation targets alone needs, on a range of $74 to $166 billion.
Hutton and Varughese, World Bank Water and Sanitation Program, The Costs of Meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal Targets on Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: Summary Report, 2016
$1.7 billion in water tech VC investment in 2022, a record, up from $283 million in 2017: a sixfold increase in five years.
ImpactCity, State of Impact 2025, 2025
The water index has outperformed global utilities over the decade, by one and a half points a year once dividends are counted.
The Water Foundation
The S&P Global Water Index returned 10.52% a year over the ten years to 31 August 2026, against 9.00% for the S&P Global BMI Utilities, on total return in US dollars
S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P Global Water Index, 2026
Water is now an investable asset class: the S&P Global Water Index tracks 100 listed water companies worldwide, split equally between utilities and infrastructure, and equipment and materials. Exchange-traded funds from Invesco and iShares give investors direct exposure to it.
S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P Global Water Index, 2026
1.4 million preventable deaths every year from unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023; WHO, Sanitation, fact sheet, 2024
395,000 preventable deaths among children under five in 2019
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023; WHO, Sanitation, fact sheet, 2024
74 million healthy years of life lost (DALYs) to unsafe WASH in 2019
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023
over 1 million deaths from diarrhoeal disease attributable to unsafe WASH in 2019
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023
69% of the total diarrhoeal disease burden attributable to unsafe WASH in 2019
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023
2.1 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water in 2024
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
3.4 billion people lacked safely managed sanitation in 2024
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
1.7 billion people lacked basic hygiene services at home in 2024
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
106 million people still drank directly from surface water in 2024
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
354 million people still practised open defecation in 2024
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
3,800+ lives every day
The Water Foundation
14 million+ potential lives over a decade if no comprehensive action taken
The Water Foundation
510,000 WASH-attributable deaths in the WHO African Region in 2019
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023
593,000 WASH-attributable deaths in the WHO South-East Asia Region in 2019
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023
33,000 WASH-attributable deaths in the WHO European Region in 2019
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023
over 75% of all WASH-attributable deaths occurred in the WHO African and South-East Asia regions in 2019
WHO, Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update, 2023
A group of systems thinkers met at COP29, united by a shared vision to address the global water crisis through innovation and collaboration.
The Water Foundation
We committed to advancing SDG 6 and improving the lives of 1 billion people through resilient, equitable access to clean water.
The Water Foundation
Established teams to create a truly global impact network for water innovation.
The Water Foundation
Set out a three-pillar strategy, to address water challenges at every stage.
The Water Foundation
First principles. Our guiding principles that shape everything we do.
The Water Foundation
Water is essential, but mispriced. Align capital with access and risk.
The Water Foundation
Resilience is the true return. Build for long-term, systemic stability.
The Water Foundation
Complexity is the alpha. Step in where others hesitate.
The Water Foundation
Tech must meet governance. Fund tech, policy and community capacity.
The Water Foundation
Value compounds across sectors. Track and multiply co-benefits.
The Water Foundation
What the Foundation holds to, and the divisions it works across.
The Water Foundation
We believe water is a fundamental human right and a critical resource for global stability.
The Water Foundation
We integrate freshwater and ocean strategies for holistic water solutions.
The Water Foundation
Freshwater and saltwater are often treated as separate domains: rivers, lakes, and aquifers on one side; oceans, estuaries, and coasts on the other. In reality, they are part of a single, dynamic system.
The Water Foundation
We operate at the intersection of for-profit and non-profit to maximise impact.
The Water Foundation
We bridge private and public sectors through blended finance instruments.
The Water Foundation
We believe in the power of collaboration between private enterprise and public institutions to create comprehensive water solutions.
The Water Foundation
We believe funds are instruments of change. And we need a symphony of instruments to create the change we need.
The Water Foundation
We accelerate the transition from water innovation to global resilience by turning bold ideas into bankable infrastructure and lasting equity.
The Water Foundation
We accept donations and employ best practices in blended finance for development and impact, enabling us to drive sustainable change through charitable initiatives and strategic partnerships.
The Water Foundation
We accept direct capital investments into closed-end venture and PE funds, as well as participate with our principals in an evergreen structure, creating opportunities for financial returns alongside impact.
The Water Foundation
Bridging the valley of scale. From frontier innovation to investable water infrastructure.
The Water Foundation
We connect the early-stage innovation ecosystem with institutional capital and the operational maturity required for large-scale water infrastructure.
The Water Foundation
Three integrated approaches to water investment from first idea to established market leader.
The Water Foundation
We identify the most promising water IP and ideas, build teams around them and back them with capital.
The Water Foundation
We invest in the strongest existing teams and technologies, connect them to our ecosystem and help them scale.
The Water Foundation
We acquire established players and hidden champions along the water cycle and build them into something bigger.
The Water Foundation
Information on investment vehicles is intended for professional investors only and does not constitute an offer.
The Water Foundation
We're not just another consultant, accelerator, think tank or fund: we are the bridge between innovation and scale, aiming to catalyse an end-to-end innovation and investment ecosystem, spanning policy, technology and capital.
The Water Foundation
From catalytic seed to patient PE, we work across the entire capital spectrum. We don't just fund, we build sustainable financial pathways.
The Water Foundation
We support people, places, and policy ecosystems that turn belief into practice. It's not just about the technology, it's about the entire ecosystem.
The Water Foundation
We focus on scalable, bankable water infrastructure, assets built to last for decades, not cycles.
The Water Foundation
We build what lasts, not what's trendy.
The Water Foundation
Five boards, and the trustees and mission boards that sit with the fund structures.
The Water Foundation
The Foundation Board provides strategic governance and oversight for The Water Foundation, ensuring alignment with our mission to bring water independence to 1 billion people while maintaining the highest standards of organisational excellence.
The Water Foundation
The Investor Board oversees our investment strategy and portfolio management, ensuring that capital deployment aligns with our mission while generating sustainable returns for stakeholders.
The Water Foundation
The Donor Board oversees our philanthropic initiatives and ensures that charitable contributions are deployed effectively to maximise impact in water access and resilience projects worldwide.
The Water Foundation
The Ethics Board ensures that all Water Foundation activities adhere to the highest ethical standards. We provide guidance on responsible innovation, sustainable practices, and equitable access to water resources.
The Water Foundation
The Tech Board provides strategic oversight for all technology initiatives within The Water Foundation.
The Water Foundation
Different fund structures are managed by professionals with proven track records in their specific fund structure, supported by experienced trustees. Trustees ensure alignment with mission and values while generating outstanding impact and financial returns relative to alternatives.
The Water Foundation
Special advisory boards initiate and oversee collective impact on specific challenges or efforts. Managing Partners form strategic coalitions across fund structures to address specific challenges, facilitated by Mission Boards and aligned with organisational goals.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation serves as the coordinating body, ensuring alignment, facilitating knowledge sharing, and driving collective impact across all initiatives.
The Water Foundation
Equitable access to water is foundational to dignity, opportunity, and planetary stability.
The Water Foundation
16.3% projected annual growth from 2025 to 2030 in the global market for next-generation municipal water treatment technologies.
BCC Research, Advanced Technologies for Municipal Water Treatment: Global Market, 2026
across policy, technology and capital
The Water Foundation
Investment Strategy
€500M+ in capital via our global hubs
The Water Foundation
cut costs by 25%
The Water Foundation
Recover 90%+ of contaminated mining wastewater
The Water Foundation
The fundamental truths that guide our approach to water independence. We build from first principles, not assumptions.
The Water Foundation
In 2024, investor interest surged in technologies like desalination, advanced treatment, and PFAS destruction, solutions that are vital for environmental resilience and rich with market potential.
The Water Foundation
This is more than a crisis. It's a call to invest in the future, where innovation meets impact.
The Water Foundation
We transform water challenges into systemic opportunities.
The Water Foundation
We don't bet on silver bullets. We underwrite the ecosystem.
The Water Foundation
This is not charity: it's catalytic capital designed for systemic return.
The Water Foundation
Align regional frameworks with the Commonwealth Water Charta and COP30 water credit initiative
The Water Foundation
Integrate Nigeria into the Commonwealth Water Charta by 2026
The Water Foundation
Abuja as the African hub, linked to Delhi, Dubai & Munich for tech & capital exchange
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation empowers individuals, organisations, and states to develop strategic capacity, increase resilience, and shape circular water and resource infrastructures for the future.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation, based in Munich, Dubai, Delhi, Vaduz, Amsterdam and Nairobi, is a global organisation working to ensure clean, accessible water for all through blended, unsiloed financial strategies.
The Water Foundation
Artesians
Bringing the network to network capital.
The Water Foundation
The Artesians are the Foundation's Circle of Inaugural Founding Supporters.
The Water Foundation
Build your legacy in water.
The Water Foundation
A private circle of capital, operators, and next-generation stewards. Water is not a sector. It is the system.
The Water Foundation
A founding community for global water leadership.
The Water Foundation
An exclusive network of leading families from across the world, united to secure humanity's most vital resource: water.
The Water Foundation
Recognition as a Founding Patron of The Water Foundation.
The Water Foundation
Direct links to our hubs.
The Water Foundation
Membership is by invitation only.
The Water Foundation
Theory of Change
Capital × Markets × Technology × Policy × Implementation
The Water Foundation
Capital provides the resources required to move.
The Water Foundation
Markets create demand and commercial pathways.
The Water Foundation
Technology provides the solutions.
The Water Foundation
Policy creates the enabling environment.
The Water Foundation
Implementation converts all four into measurable outcomes.
The Water Foundation
Water resilience does not scale through a single intervention. It scales when capital, markets, technology, policy and implementation reinforce one another.
The Water Foundation
Water resilience scales when the system moves together.
The Water Foundation
Explore how TWF connects capital, technology and policy to move from risk to measurable water security.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation works on the premise that water challenges are rarely caused by the absence of solutions alone.
The Water Foundation
Technologies exist.
The Water Foundation
Capital exists.
The Water Foundation
Policy frameworks exist.
The Water Foundation
Implementation capacity exists.
The Water Foundation
The failure often happens in the gaps between them.
The Water Foundation
Our Theory of Change is built around closing those gaps and creating the conditions in which proven solutions can move from isolated intervention to system-level scale.
The Water Foundation
If one of these elements fails, the system underperforms.
The Water Foundation
If they align, water resilience can scale.
The Water Foundation
Most water systems remain fragmented across institutions, asset classes, technologies, jurisdictions and sources of capital.
The Water Foundation
TWF works across those boundaries.
The Water Foundation
Capital with investable opportunities
The Water Foundation
Technology with real deployment pathways
The Water Foundation
Markets with proven solutions
The Water Foundation
River systems with cross-boundary governance
The Water Foundation
Data with measurable decision-making
The Water Foundation
The objective is not to create more activity around water. It is to make the system work better.
The Water Foundation
Capital + Technology + Policy
The Water Foundation
Capital enables proven solutions to move beyond pilots, finance infrastructure and scale across markets. But capital alone cannot create resilience. It requires viable technologies, supportive policy, functioning markets and implementation capacity.
The Water Foundation
Technology determines what is technically possible. But technology alone does not create impact. It must be financeable, deployable, accepted by markets and supported by policy.
The Water Foundation
Policy determines the conditions under which capital and technology can operate at scale. But policy alone cannot deliver outcomes. It must translate into market incentives, investment, technology adoption and implementation.
The Water Foundation
Our model is intentionally multiplicative rather than additive.
The Water Foundation
Capital + Technology + Policy describes a collection of interventions.
The Water Foundation
Capital × Markets × Technology × Policy × Implementation describes a system.
The Water Foundation
If any one variable approaches zero, the ability of the whole system to deliver measurable water resilience falls with it.
The Water Foundation
Aligned systems create measurable water security at scale.
The Water Foundation
As one variable decreases, the final resilience outcome falls.
The Water Foundation
As the variables align, the outcome increases.
The Water Foundation
TWF does not need to own every component of the system.
The Water Foundation
Our role is to identify where the system is constrained and intervene where additionality is highest.
The Water Foundation
The intervention changes. The systems logic does not.
The Water Foundation
The same Theory of Change applies whether TWF is working with a company, a city, a country or an entire river basin.
The Water Foundation
At asset level, the question may be whether a technology can be financed and deployed.
The Water Foundation
At city level, it may be whether policy, infrastructure and capital can align around a resilience plan.
The Water Foundation
At basin level, it may be whether multiple jurisdictions can coordinate around a shared water system and invest along it.
The Water Foundation
The scale changes. The logic remains the same.
The Water Foundation
Policy
Capital × Markets × Technology × Policy × Implementation
The Water Foundation
Capital provides the resources required to move.
The Water Foundation
Markets create demand and commercial pathways.
The Water Foundation
Technology provides the solutions.
The Water Foundation
Policy creates the enabling environment.
The Water Foundation
Implementation converts all four into measurable outcomes.
The Water Foundation
Policy only creates measurable water security at scale when capital, markets, technology and implementation move with it.
The Water Foundation
Water systems are connected. Governance should be too.
The Water Foundation
TWF works with cities, governments, corporates, basin organisations and international partners to build policy and governance structures around the systems they are intended to protect.
The Water Foundation
We work with cities to understand water vulnerability, identify priority interventions and connect policy with technology, finance and implementation.
The Water Foundation
The aim is not another static framework, but a practical pathway from assessment to action.
The Water Foundation
The TWF Water Score creates comparable, decision-useful assessments of water resilience across cities, countries, corporates and basin systems.
The Water Foundation
It combines performance with data reliability so decision-makers can understand not only where risk exists, but how confidently it can be measured.
The Water Foundation
Water does not follow political boundaries.
United Nations, UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, 2024; Oregon State University, Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database; UN-Water, SDG 6 Data Portal, indicator 6.5.2
Rivers cross borders.
Oregon State University, Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database; UN-Water, SDG 6 Data Portal, indicator 6.5.2
Aquifers sit beneath multiple jurisdictions.
IGRAC, IGRAC launches new Transboundary Aquifers of the World Map 2021, 2021
Supply chains connect water use in one country with consumption in another.
Hoekstra and Mekonnen, The water footprint of humanity, PNAS 109(9), 2012
Cities, agriculture, energy systems and industries can depend on the same basin while operating under entirely different regulatory frameworks.
The Water Foundation
Yet water policy is still predominantly organised around administrative boundaries.
The Water Foundation
TWF approaches water governance from the system outward: beginning with the water system itself, then mapping the governments, markets, infrastructure, communities and capital that depend on it.
The Water Foundation
Many of the institutions, regulations and agreements governing water today were designed for a world with different populations, different climate conditions, different technologies and very different patterns of economic activity.
The Water Foundation
They often remain fragmented across jurisdictions, sectors and ministries, even where the underlying water system is shared.
The Water Foundation
Water moves across borders. Policy usually does not.
The Water Foundation
Water connects sectors. Regulation often separates them.
The Water Foundation
Technology can change quickly. Governance usually changes slowly.
The Water Foundation
Capital moves globally. Water decisions remain highly local.
The Water Foundation
Water resilience therefore requires more than updating individual policies. It requires new ways of coordinating across boundaries.
The Water Foundation
TWF works on governance models that connect jurisdictions, sectors and stakeholders around the water system they actually share.
The Water Foundation
Water systems do not stop at administrative borders.
United Nations, UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, 2024; Oregon State University, Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database; UN-Water, SDG 6 Data Portal, indicator 6.5.2
We work at basin level to bring together governments, communities, businesses, investors and other stakeholders around shared water systems, with a focus on governance, investment, data and long-term resilience.
The Water Foundation
The objective is not simply better coordination. It is to create governance structures capable of responding to the economic, environmental and technological realities of a shared water system.
The Water Foundation
We map river systems not only as governance units, but as investable economic systems.
The Water Foundation
Water systems create economic systems.
The Water Foundation
Rivers connect cities, agriculture, industry, energy, logistics, ecosystems and communities across entire regions.
WWF, Valuing Rivers, 2018; Oregon State University, Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database
Investment opportunities therefore rarely sit in isolation. They emerge along the full river system, where infrastructure, technology, land use, industry and policy interact.
The Water Foundation
TWF maps these relationships to understand where water risk, economic activity and investable opportunity overlap.
The Water Foundation
Our river-based market approach looks beyond individual projects and asks: Where along the system can capital create the greatest resilience, additionality and economic value?
The Water Foundation
Water Infrastructure. Treatment & Reuse. Industrial Water. Agriculture & Irrigation. Energy & Cooling. Digital Monitoring & Data. Nature-Based Infrastructure. Urban Resilience. Logistics & Economic Infrastructure
The Water Foundation
Because water risk is spatial, interconnected and cumulative.
WRI, Grounding Global Water Risk Assessments in Local Data, 2025; WWF, Valuing Rivers, 2018
A single intervention can shift risk upstream or downstream, create new constraints elsewhere in the system or unlock value across multiple sectors at once. Looking at isolated assets misses those relationships.
Ciullo, de Bruijn, Kwakkel and Klijn, Systemic Flood Risk Management: The Challenge of Accounting for Hydraulic Interactions, 2019; European Union, Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks, 2007; WWF, Valuing Rivers, 2018
Investing along rivers allows us to identify where: One intervention can unlock several outcomes; Shared infrastructure can serve multiple users; Technology can resolve a system-wide bottleneck; Capital can reduce risk across an entire corridor; Policy alignment can make previously stranded opportunities investable
The Water Foundation
It also helps distinguish between projects that simply perform well on their own and interventions that improve the resilience of the wider water system.
The Water Foundation
The objective is not to optimise one asset. It is to strengthen the system around it.
The Water Foundation
The next generation of water governance must work across more than national borders.
The Water Foundation
Countries across shared basins. Cities across common infrastructure systems. Public and private actors. Water, energy, food and industrial policy. Upstream and downstream users. Physical water systems and financial systems
The Water Foundation
TWF develops and convenes cross-boundary approaches designed around the actual system being governed. This includes new models for basin-level cooperation, shared data, coordinated investment, common resilience targets and governance structures capable of surviving political and project cycles.
The Water Foundation
We support governments in assessing water resilience across infrastructure, economic exposure, policy, governance, technology and investment.
The Water Foundation
The objective is to identify structural weaknesses and translate them into implementable priorities.
The Water Foundation
Water risk increasingly affects operations, supply chains, asset values and long-term competitiveness.
The Water Foundation
We help companies understand that exposure and connect resilience priorities with measurable interventions, technologies and financing pathways.
The Water Foundation
We support the development of policy environments that allow proven technologies to be deployed, capital to scale and institutions to act with greater clarity.
The Water Foundation
Our approach is non-prescriptive and implementation-led
The Water Foundation
recognising that different water systems require different combinations of policy, finance and technology.
The Water Foundation
We produce research designed to inform decisions rather than simply describe problems.
The Water Foundation
Our work focuses on the structures, incentives, risks and opportunities that determine whether water solutions can move from concept to implementation at scale.
The Water Foundation
Whether the city can count on enough water to meet what its people and its economy need.
The Water Foundation
Whether the city's systems for drinking water, sanitation and drainage reach everyone and hold up under strain.
The Water Foundation
How exposed the city's water is to drought, flooding and other extremes of weather.
The Water Foundation
Whether the rules, institutions and responsibilities for the city's water are clear and work together.
The Water Foundation
Whether the city can fund its water systems, from building them to running and maintaining them.
The Water Foundation
Whether the city draws on technology that helps it supply, save and protect its water.
The Water Foundation
Whether the city measures its water well enough to see a problem coming.
The Water Foundation
How well the city's people and communities can cope with a disruption to their water and recover from it.
The Water Foundation
How much water the country has to draw on, set against the demands placed on it.
The Water Foundation
How much water the country's households, farms and industries need, and where that need is heading.
The Water Foundation
Whether the country's systems for drinking water, sanitation and storage reach its people and hold up under strain.
The Water Foundation
How much of the country's economy depends on water, and what a shortage or a flood would cost it.
The Water Foundation
Whether the country's laws, institutions and plans for water are clear, coordinated and carried out.
The Water Foundation
Whether the country is ready for investment in water, with projects worth funding, clear rules and the means to deliver them.
The Water Foundation
How far drought, flooding and other extremes of weather put the country's water, people and economy at risk.
The Water Foundation
Where the trace starts: the company whose exposure to water is in question.
The Water Foundation
The company's own sites and processes, and the water they use.
The Water Foundation
The suppliers the company depends on, and the water their work depends on.
The Water Foundation
Where the company's sites and its suppliers actually are.
The Water Foundation
The river basins those places draw on, shared with every other user.
The Water Foundation
The risk those basins carry, which reaches the company through every step before it.
The Water Foundation
The law, regulation or plan a government sets for water.
The Water Foundation
What the policy makes worth doing, through rules, prices, standards or support.
The Water Foundation
Whether companies, utilities and investors act on that incentive.
The Water Foundation
The capital committed to what the market has taken up.
The Water Foundation
The technology and infrastructure built and put to work.
The Water Foundation
The change in water the policy was made to bring about.
The Water Foundation
Political map. Country and regional borders dominate.
The Water Foundation
Water map. Basins and aquifers appear.
The Water Foundation
Dependency map. Cities, agriculture, energy, industry and ecosystems appear.
The Water Foundation
Governance map. Institutions, treaties and regulatory jurisdictions appear.
The Water Foundation
Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, the four states of the Orange-Senqu basin.
ORASECOM, Overview of the Orange-Senqu River Basin; Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, Agreement between the Governments of the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of South Africa on the Establishment of the Orange-Senqu River Commission, 2000
The basin's edge, the Orange, the Vaal and the Caledon running to the Atlantic, four of its dams and the shared Stampriet aquifer.
South Africa, Department of Water and Sanitation, Orange River Overarching Internal Strategic Perspective, chapter 2, 2004
Gauteng's cities, mines and industries draw on the Vaal, fed by tunnel from Lesotho; farms, hydropower and a wetland draw on the Orange and an aquifer.
Rand Water, Integrated Annual Report 2025, 2025; Rand Water, About Us
The four governments' Orange-Senqu River Commission for the whole river system, a body within it for the Stampriet aquifer, and two agreements between pairs.
Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa, Agreement between the Governments of the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of South Africa on the Establishment of the Orange-Senqu River Commission, 2000; International Water Law Project, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa Develop Joint Governance Mechanism for the Stampriet Aquifer System in the Orange-Senqu River Commission, 2019; Lesotho and South Africa, Treaty on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, 1986; Namibia and South Africa, Agreement on the Establishment of a Permanent Water Commission, 1992
Where the Orange is their border, Namibia and South Africa have not agreed where in the river it lies.
The Namibian, South Africa, Namibia Orange River border dispute unresolved, 2026
New governance must follow the system, not just the border.
The Water Foundation
The countries where the river rises, whose choices about its water travel downstream across their borders.
The Water Foundation
The countries the river reaches last, which share in what is decided upstream without deciding it.
The Water Foundation
Cities that draw on the river early and return to it what they use, for everyone below.
The Water Foundation
Cities that draw on water every user above them has already taken from and returned to.
The Water Foundation
Farms that take water for their land before the river reaches the users below.
The Water Foundation
Farms that depend on what the river still carries by the time it reaches them.
The Water Foundation
Industry that takes water for its work and returns it to the river others use further down.
The Water Foundation
Industry that works with the water, in amount and in quality, that reaches it from upstream.
The Water Foundation
Energy, from dams to plants that draw on the river, that shapes how much water passes on and when.
The Water Foundation
Energy that needs the river to arrive with enough water to run on.
The Water Foundation
People who live along the river near its source, and whose use of it reaches those below.
The Water Foundation
People who live along the river further down, and live with what is decided above them.
The Water Foundation
Dams, intakes and works upstream, which change the water every user below receives.
The Water Foundation
Infrastructure downstream, built for a river whose flow and quality are shaped above it.
The Water Foundation
Investment in what is built and run upstream, whose effects travel down the river.
The Water Foundation
Investment downstream, which carries risks that begin upstream of what it pays for.
The Water Foundation
We do not only invest in water assets. We invest along water systems.
The Water Foundation
That means identifying how value and risk move along a river, where intervention can unlock multiple outcomes, and where capital can strengthen the resilience of the wider system rather than optimise a single asset in isolation.
The Water Foundation
Shared Water System. Common Data. Stakeholder Governance. Policy Alignment. Investment Framework. Implementation
The Water Foundation
The geography of water and the geography of governance are not the same.
OECD, OECD Principles on Water Governance, 2015; Oregon State University, Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database; UN-Water, SDG 6 Data Portal, indicator 6.5.2
Technology
Capital × Markets × Technology × Policy × Implementation
The Water Foundation
Capital provides the resources required to move.
The Water Foundation
Markets create demand and commercial pathways.
The Water Foundation
Technology provides the solutions.
The Water Foundation
Policy creates the enabling environment.
The Water Foundation
Implementation converts all four into measurable outcomes.
The Water Foundation
Technology only creates measurable water security at scale when capital, markets, policy and implementation move with it.
The Water Foundation
Technology only matters when it reaches the systems that need it.
The Water Foundation
We work with innovators, corporates, investors, cities and implementation partners to move proven solutions from capability to deployment and from deployment to scale.
The Water Foundation
We identify technologies capable of addressing material water challenges across the full water cycle, including supply, treatment, reuse, efficiency, monitoring, digital systems, industrial water and nature-based solutions.
The Water Foundation
Where important solutions are missing, fragmented or unable to scale, we help build the companies and platforms needed to close those gaps.
The Water Foundation
Our venture-building work combines market need, technology, operating capacity and capital from the outset.
The Water Foundation
The gap between a successful pilot and scaled deployment remains one of the largest barriers in water.
The Water Foundation
We work with cities, utilities, corporates, infrastructure operators and implementation partners to create pathways from proof of concept to repeatable deployment.
The Water Foundation
We connect businesses facing material water risk with technologies that can improve resilience across operations, supply chains and assets.
The Water Foundation
The objective is practical implementation, measurable performance and solutions that can scale across multiple sites and markets.
The Water Foundation
We work with technology companies, research institutions, investors, corporates and public-sector partners to accelerate the development and adoption of high-potential solutions.
The Water Foundation
We are building a structured view of technologies, providers and implementation models across the water sector.
The Water Foundation
The objective is to make it easier to identify which solutions are relevant to a specific challenge, where they have been proven and what is required for deployment.
The Water Foundation
Where water is drawn from: rivers, lakes, aquifers, rain or the sea.
The Water Foundation
Where water is made fit for the use it is meant for, from drinking to industry.
The Water Foundation
The networks that carry treated water to the people and places that use it.
The Water Foundation
Where water is put to work, in homes, on farms, in industry and across cities.
The Water Foundation
The water that leaves after use, to be collected and treated.
The Water Foundation
Treated wastewater put to work again rather than let go.
The Water Foundation
Measurement and data across every stage, so the whole cycle can be seen and managed.
The Water Foundation
A water problem material enough that solving it is worth building a company for.
The Water Foundation
The customers who need the problem solved and will pay for it.
The Water Foundation
The solution that answers the problem: one layer of the venture, not the whole of it.
The Water Foundation
The people who can build the company, sell what it makes and run it.
The Water Foundation
The funding to build the company and carry it to scale, there from the outset.
The Water Foundation
The solution in use with its first customers, where the venture shows it can grow.
The Water Foundation
The technology is shown to work under test, before it meets a real system.
The Water Foundation
It runs in a real setting at a small scale, with a first city, utility or company.
The Water Foundation
A buyer commits to it through a purchase, beyond a trial.
The Water Foundation
It is installed and running as part of the buyer's own system.
The Water Foundation
It is deployed again, by other buyers and at other sites.
The Water Foundation
It is deployed again and again as a standard answer, across systems and markets.
The Water Foundation
Capital
Capital × Markets × Technology × Policy × Implementation
The Water Foundation
Capital provides the resources required to move.
The Water Foundation
Markets create demand and commercial pathways.
The Water Foundation
Technology provides the solutions.
The Water Foundation
Policy creates the enabling environment.
The Water Foundation
Implementation converts all four into measurable outcomes.
The Water Foundation
Capital only creates measurable water security at scale when markets, technology, policy and implementation move with it.
The Water Foundation
Capital should move where water resilience needs it most.
The Water Foundation
We work with investors, fund managers, corporates, governments and project partners to build the structures that allow capital to scale solutions.
The Water Foundation
We structure and connect capital around measurable water outcomes.
The Water Foundation
The platform brings together investors, technologies, projects and implementation partners to create investable pathways across the water system.
The Water Foundation
We support companies solving material water challenges and help them move from early commercial traction to scale, connecting strong technologies with the capital, markets and strategic partners required for growth.
The Water Foundation
Many water solutions only become systemic when they are embedded into infrastructure and operating platforms.
The Water Foundation
We work with investment partners to identify and structure opportunities where resilient infrastructure can deliver both long-term value and measurable water impact.
The Water Foundation
Our fund strategies are designed to increase institutional access to water and related natural infrastructure by identifying high-quality managers, improving diversification and creating pathways into specialist opportunities that remain difficult to access directly.
The Water Foundation
specialist opportunities that remain difficult to access directly.
The Water Foundation
Not every high-impact water solution is immediately investable on purely commercial terms.
OECD, Making Blended Finance Work for Water and Sanitation: Unlocking Commercial Finance for SDG 6, 2019
We use catalytic and blended structures to address specific barriers, reduce risk and help solutions become capable of attracting larger pools of capital.
The Water Foundation
We create direct access to selected opportunities where strategic capital can accelerate deployment, scale proven technologies or unlock critical infrastructure.
The Water Foundation
The water need the pathway starts from, where it is felt and by whom.
The Water Foundation
The technology or project that can meet that need.
The Water Foundation
What it takes to fund the solution, from building it to running it.
The Water Foundation
How the investment is put together, so that each investor carries a risk it can take.
The Water Foundation
The solution built and running, with the partners who deliver it.
The Water Foundation
The measurable change in water the pathway was built to secure.
The Water Foundation
The plant, network or facility an investment builds or buys.
The Water Foundation
Who runs the asset, and whose capacity decides how well it performs.
The Water Foundation
The users the asset serves, whose demand carries its value.
The Water Foundation
The water the asset draws on and returns to, shared with every other user.
The Water Foundation
The whole system the asset belongs to, where its value and its resilience are judged together.
The Water Foundation
The company is proving its technology in real conditions, with its first customers.
The Water Foundation
Customers are paying, and the company is showing that what it sells meets a real demand.
The Water Foundation
The company sells the same solution again and again, well beyond its first customers.
The Water Foundation
The company takes a proven solution into new countries and markets.
The Water Foundation
People
Meet the individuals bringing water independence to 1 billion+ people.
The Water Foundation
We bring together exceptional people who are impatient with the way things are, embrace new ways of systems thinking across the water cycle and along the water tech stack, and have the courage to act.
The Water Foundation
What began as an improbable group of systems thinkers finding each other at COP29 grew into a targeted global initiative. We bring together exceptional people who are impatient with the way things are, embrace new ways of systems thinking across the water cycle and along the water tech stack, and have the courage to act.
The Water Foundation
Our governance structure includes specialised boards that provide strategic oversight, ethical guidance, and expert counsel across all aspects of our mission.
The Water Foundation
Strategic governance, mission alignment, and organisational oversight for the foundation.
The Water Foundation
Investment strategy, portfolio oversight, and financial governance for sustainable returns.
The Water Foundation
Philanthropic strategy, donor relations, and charitable giving oversight for maximum impact.
The Water Foundation
Ensuring ethical practices, responsible innovation, and sustainable impact across all initiatives.
The Water Foundation
Technology strategy, innovation oversight, and technical governance for our water solutions.
The Water Foundation
We don't post jobs, we attract amazing humans. We are more interested in mission fit, relentless drive, agile mindsets, and a can-do attitude.
The Water Foundation
If you fit this description, you can probably propose to us roles and work that we can't even imagine yet. We've been waiting to hear from you!
The Water Foundation
Christoph Schwager, Chair, The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation
Christoph Schwager is Chairman and Founder of The Water Foundation, shaping its strategic direction and building TWF into a global platform for water security and scalable impact. His career spans more than 30 years of leadership at the intersection of strategy, finance, risk and entrepreneurship. Throughout his career, Christoph has focused on understanding organisations, navigating complexity and designing systems that work. His experience spans senior leadership, advisory and entrepreneurial roles, including Chief Risk Officer of Airbus, EY Partner and PwC. Christoph is also a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of a think tank. He holds a Diplom-Kaufmann (MBA equivalent) from the University of Augsburg and is a Certified Public Accountant.
The Water Foundation
Verena A. Sturm, Chair, The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation
Guiding the platform's capital formation, strategic partnerships, and policy engagement.
The Water Foundation
Also Founding Partner of Green Vault Holding and Avestu Capital, advising high-net-worth individuals and corporates on impact-driven strategies.
The Water Foundation
Her portfolio includes advising Siemens Financial Services on its Natural Emission Technologies fund. A Non-Resident Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation Middle East.
The Water Foundation
Verena holds an honours degree in International Relations and is completing a PhD in Political Science on climate justice at LMU Munich.
The Water Foundation
Rahman Wynberg, Council Member, The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation
Dr. R. Wynberg is an accomplished researcher and technology leader with a PhD in Physical Oceanography from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway.
The Water Foundation
He brings extensive expertise in oceanography, scientific computing, programming, and entrepreneurship.
The Water Foundation
At Green Vault Holding (gvaultholding.com), he drives the development of innovative technological solutions and sustainable investment strategies.
The Water Foundation
In addition to his scientific and technological expertise, Dr. Wynberg leverages an extensive global network of influential decision-makers, high-net-worth families, and strategic partners to foster collaborations that accelerate climate-focused innovation and systemic impact.
The Water Foundation
Sarabeth Brockley, Venture Partner
The Water Foundation
Sarabeth Brockley is an international ESG and climate finance expert with a career spanning the United Nations and Nasdaq.
The Water Foundation
At Nasdaq, she served as Head of Carbon Strategy and ESG Advisory, where she led initiatives to embed carbon procurement and climate risk into corporate value chains, and as Lead Advisor on Carbon Markets and ESG.
The Water Foundation
Previously, she was a Climate and Water Programme Officer at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, advancing global work on water, energy, and capacity development.
The Water Foundation
Building on this institutional foundation, Sarabeth has positioned herself at the frontier of climate innovation. She is a Partner at Wild Assets, an investor with Investors for Climate, and a Senior Advisor to several ventures, including Gigablue, Residual, Alcove, and BIOME. She also serves on the board of Sinkco Labs and advises Women and Climate.
The Water Foundation
As Director of Partnerships, ESG & Impact Strategy at the Water Foundation and General Partner of the Water Venture Fund, Sarabeth bridges institutional platforms and entrepreneurial ventures, leveraging her expertise in carbon markets, ESG integration, and impact investment to drive transformative solutions at the intersection of water, climate, and finance.
The Water Foundation
Martin Klässner, Venture Builder Strategies Lead, TWF Institute, Austria Desk
The Water Foundation
Martin Klässner is an entrepreneur and investor best known for achieving the largest startup exit in Austria. As Co-Founder and CEO of has·to·be, an e-mobility software company acquired by ChargePoint in 2021 for approximately €250 million, he scaled the business from inception into a European market leader in EV charging solutions. Today, Martin is CEO of make visions capital gmbh and GrowthSquare GmbH, where he invests in and supports high-growth companies across MedTech, Life Sciences, Energy, and Robotics, always with a strong focus on software. Beyond his CEO roles, he serves on multiple boards, primarily in the startup ecosystem, shaping strategy and scaling innovation-driven ventures. In his role as Head of Venture Builder at The Water Foundation (Water Strategies platform) and General Partner of the Water Venture Builder, Martin applies his proven capacity to build and scale transformative companies to the water sector, driving the creation and growth of ventures that address systemic challenges in water infrastructure, technology, and sustainability.
The Water Foundation
Christophe C. Meeus, Guardian of the Council, The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation
Christophe C. Meeus is Managing Director, CFO, General Counsel, and Board Member with international executive experience. Specialises in providing comprehensive legal and financial guidance to international companies, with expertise in Company and Commercial Law, Employment Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Computer Law, Licence Law, Copyright Law, and Unfair Competition.
The Water Foundation
Michael P. Staton, Direct Advisor to the Council, The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation
Advising the Fund of Funds portion of The Water Foundation's integrated Blended Finance Strategy. Maintaining a cutting-edge tech stack for us all.
The Water Foundation
Michael Jackson, Venture Partner
The Water Foundation
Michael Jackson is an American entrepreneur-turned-investor and one of Europe's most followed and respected voices in venture capital and deep tech innovation. As Head of Deep Tech Investment and Venture Capital Strategy at The Water Foundation, he co-strategises and oversees the design and execution of our investment approach, ensuring that capital is deployed strategically and responsibly, giving investors confidence that their funds are protected, impact-driven, and positioned for long-term success.
The Water Foundation
Based in Paris, Michael is Venture Partner at Multiple Capital and Wilbe, Advisory Board Member and Investment Committee member at QAI Ventures and Redstone Quantum, and part of the European Defence Investor Network. Over his 25-year career, he has supported and scaled hundreds of startups through leading accelerators such as Seedcamp, Startup Bootcamp, Wayra, Techstars, and Le Camping. He also sits on the boards of venture funds, non-profits, educational institutions, a private bank, and numerous high-growth companies.
The Water Foundation
Beyond his investment leadership, Michael is a recognised thought leader whose perspectives on the European and global innovation landscape influence founders, investors, and policymakers alike.
The Water Foundation
Tilman Griesel, Partner, TWF Institute, Tech Desk
The Water Foundation
Tilman Griesel is a Partner of the TWF Institute, where he leads the Tech Desk.
The Water Foundation
His work spans brand, strategy, technology and institutional transformation. Drawing on more than a decade of experience building and shaping complex digital products, he works across brand and product strategy, design, software architecture and artificial intelligence.
The Water Foundation
He focuses on turning new technology into lasting capability, with the governance that responsible adoption requires.
The Water Foundation
Divyaksshi Nath, Africa Lead and Senior Manager, Office of the Co-Chairs
The Water Foundation
Africa Lead & Senior Manager, guiding The Water Foundation's work on the continent across policy, technology, and capital. From Nairobi, she builds project pipeline, convenes governments, partner organisations and investors, and co-builds the Foundation's non-profit and for-profit initiatives. She is also a Fellow of the TWFI Institute. Her earlier work spans legal capacity building across seven African countries with UNODC, the Cybercrime Convention negotiations in New York, representing India at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and establishing the Observer Research Foundation's Middle East office in Dubai. Divyaksshi holds an MA in International Relations from the Geneva School of Diplomacy, an MBA from Anglia Ruskin University, and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
The Water Foundation
Corinna Schwager, Chief of Staff, Office of the Co-Chairs
The Water Foundation
Corinna Schwager is Co-Director of Philanthropies at The Water Foundation, where she leads the development and implementation of the Foundation’s philanthropic initiatives. With a background in business administration, applied linguistics and international communications, she brings experience in coordination, stakeholder engagement and sustainability. Having extensively travelled and worked across Europe and other continents, Corinna brings a strong intercultural perspective to her work. Alongside her professional career, she has been deeply engaged in community, educational and social initiatives for many years. She focuses on translating philanthropic ambition into meaningful initiatives and partnerships that contribute to lasting impact for people, communities and water.
The Water Foundation
Thomas J. Bella, Founding Partner, TWF Institute, DACH Desk
The Water Foundation
Thomas J. Bella is a serial entrepreneur, Partner of The Water Foundation and Co-Founder and managing director of TWF Institute GmbH where he co-leads Strategy Consulting and the TWS (The Water Score) Practice Lead. After two decades restructuring operations and supply chains in aerospace and automotive industries (Airbus, Astrium, MHP-Porsche, RUAG), he founded bellatec GmbH in 2021, delivering over a hundred e-mobility charging infrastructure projects. Thomas holds a Diploma in mechanical engineering from Munich University of Applied Sciences and an MBA from the Technical University of Munich, where he is still engaged in the Mentoring Programme. He worked internationally across the USA, the UK, India, Switzerland and France and now applies that same systems-integration experience and intercultural spirit (connecting technology, finance and policy) to close the gap between available water solutions and the system needed to deploy them at scale.
The Water Foundation
Nicolai Bode, Founding Partner, TWF Institute, DACH Desk
The Water Foundation
Nicolai Bode is a serial entrepreneur and investor with a focus on private equity, business transformation and long-term value creation. Over the past two decades, he has built, scaled and invested in businesses across technology, real estate and impact-driven ventures. He is the founder of Bodewell Foundation, a Multi-Family Investment Office investing across a broad range of asset classes and entrepreneurial opportunities. Nicolai is also Co-Founder of The Water Foundation Institute. His combination of entrepreneurial experience, capital allocation and impact investing brings a long-term investment perspective to The Water Foundation.
The Water Foundation
Friedrich Barth, Partner, TWF Institute, Belgium Desk
The Water Foundation
Friedrich Barth is a Partner of the TWF Institute, on its Belgium Desk.
The Water Foundation
His career has been spent in the institutions that sit between public policy and industry. He has been Managing Director of German Water Partnership and of the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre, a Senior Advisor at the United Nations Development Programme, and a Team Leader at the European Commission. Each of those is a convening role, bringing government, industry and research to a common agenda.
The Water Foundation
What characterises his work is a conviction that entrepreneurship is how a commitment becomes a practice. He founded the Global Entrepreneurship Centre and led it for four years, and he holds that supporting entrepreneurs is central to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris climate agreement and a circular economy.
The Water Foundation
He served for eleven years as Vice Chairman of the European Water Partnership, and for six on the board of the EU chapter of the Club of Rome.
The Water Foundation
Robert Schiele, Mergers and Acquisitions Advisor, TWF Institute, DACH Desk
The Water Foundation
Robert Schiele is a strategic leader and transformation specialist working at the intersection of the energy transition, industrial decarbonisation, and investment strategy. With more than two decades of experience bridging finance, strategy, and technology, he supports investors and management teams in building resilient, net-zero-aligned businesses in complex, capital-intensive environments.
The Water Foundation
His expertise spans hydrogen, CCUS, decarbonising heat, and sustainable industrial assets, with a focus on turning transition ambition into actionable growth and value-creation plans. As a non-executive board director and interim executive, he helps organisations navigate inflection points, aligning capital, technology, and teams to deliver measurable performance improvements, manage risk, and execute transformation.
The Water Foundation
Ineeleng Molete, TWF Ambassador, South Africa
The Water Foundation
Ineeleng Molete is an operations and strategic management leader with more than 15 years of experience across training and development, policy development, and organisational performance management. His background includes a decade of work within the ETDPSETA, with demonstrated expertise in project management, budgeting, quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation, and strategic leadership.
The Water Foundation
He has managed budgets up to R45 million and led financial and performance reporting processes with a strong track record in audit readiness and governance. He holds an honours degree in Public Administration with a specialisation in Human Resources Management.
The Water Foundation
In his current role within the Energy and Water SETA, he leads the operations function across strategic management and leadership, policy development, performance and financial reporting, monitoring and evaluation, and operations management.
The Water Foundation
Clarine Stenfert, Council Member, The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation
Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Skilled in Leadership, Structured Finance, Financial Structuring, Cross-cultural Communication Skills, and Cross-functional Team Leadership. Strong business development professional with a Master's degree focused in International Finance and Banking from Columbia University in the City of New York.
The Water Foundation
Valentin Post, Board Member, Amsterdam Stichting
The Water Foundation
Valentin Post sits on the board of the Foundation's European arm, the Amsterdam Stichting.
The Water Foundation
He is Director of Growth and Innovation at FINISH Mondial, and was its chief executive from 2019, leading teams in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The work is building sanitation markets that can reach scale, and treating what those systems recover as a resource rather than as waste.
The Water Foundation
He came to it through finance rather than engineering. He spent fifteen years as finance director of WASTE, where he co-founded and chaired the public private partnerships that took the FINISH approach into India and Kenya, and advised on the guarantee funds behind them.
The Water Foundation
Before that he spent a decade as a consultant to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, working on industrial pollution, solid waste and wastewater across South and South East Asia and in Nigeria.
The Water Foundation
He holds an MBA in environmental science from the University of Twente, and master's degrees in development economics and in the history of societies from Erasmus University Rotterdam.
The Water Foundation
Kostis Tselenis, Team Member, TWF FoF I
The Water Foundation
Kostis Tselenis works with the team behind TWF FoF I, from Zurich and Athens.
The Water Foundation
He is managing partner of swiss impact office in Zurich, which invests in growth-stage companies and specialist funds where the return and the impact are held to one standard. Before that he spent a decade at Quadia in Geneva, latterly as investment partner and head of fund investments, building a portfolio across venture capital, private equity and other managers.
The Water Foundation
His earlier career was in conventional finance, in energy private equity at Bregal Energy and in corporate finance at Lombard Odier, which is what makes the later work legible: he came to impact investing from inside the discipline rather than alongside it.
The Water Foundation
He chairs the Hellenic Impact Investing Network, Greece's national advisory board for impact investing, and has served on the boards of a forest carbon company and an off-grid solar business. He holds a master's degree in banking and finance from the University of Zurich.
The Water Foundation
David Schwager, Co-Founder and Chief Solutions Strategist, The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation
David Schwager is a serial entrepreneur and water executive, combining engineering expertise with international business leadership. As CEO of a water technology company, he develops and scales innovative approaches to complex water and circularity challenges. His international experience spans diverse markets and industries, giving him a strong understanding of how technology, business and local conditions need to come together to create lasting impact. David holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering, with a focus on Water Engineering and Circularity Solutions.
The Water Foundation
Rüdiger Ohl, Partner, TWF Institute, DACH Desk
The Water Foundation
Florian Wagner, Artist in Residence for Media, TWF Institute
The Water Foundation
Andreas Stubelius, Venture Partner
The Water Foundation
Andreas Stubelius is an experienced business developer and innovation specialist with more than 20 years in the energy and sustainability sector. His career has focused on turning innovation into viable businesses, bringing together entrepreneurs, technology, industry and capital. He has extensive experience in company development, strategy, financing and commercialisation, including senior roles at the Swedish Energy Agency and advisory work with growth companies and established industry. At The Water Foundation, Andreas brings this experience to identifying and scaling promising water solutions. As Venture Partner, he helps bridge the gap between innovation and implementation, connecting technologies and entrepreneurs with the partners, markets and capital required to achieve impact at scale.
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Frank Voigtländer, Member, Technical Due Diligence Circle
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Heinrich Egerer, Member, Technical Due Diligence Circle
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Robert Gampmayer, Member, Technical Due Diligence Circle
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Michael Grünewald, Member, Technical Due Diligence Circle
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Bernhard Bonapace, Member, Technical Due Diligence Circle
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Alex Rapatz, Chief Legal Officer, TWF FoF I
The Water Foundation
Institute
The TWF Institute sets the standard for water security, as an independent entity within The Water Foundation network.
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Strategy. Policy. Execution.
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How water-secure are you?
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While grounded in rigorous research and thought leadership, the Institute is explicitly execution-oriented.
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We work with governments, family offices, multilaterals, and corporates.
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Integrate water into national security and economic planning
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Translate hydrological risk into financial and strategic decision-making
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Build institutional capacity for hydro-diplomacy and basin governance
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Mobilise capital through bankable, structured investment frameworks
The Water Foundation
It is a sovereignty variable, a security constraint and a capital allocation problem.
The Water Foundation
The TWF Institute was built to address this shift.
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We operate at the intersection of government advisory, capital structuring, and systems-level implementation, translating water risk into sovereign strategy, investable frameworks, and deployable solutions.
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We advise governments and public institutions.
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Water integration into defence, infrastructure, and economic policy
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Transboundary water governance and basin diplomacy
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Institutional architecture for water resilience and independence
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We design and operationalise capital strategies aligned with water resilience.
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National and regional water investment platforms
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Blended finance structures across public-private capital stacks
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Development of water as an asset class
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Structuring of VC, PE, and infrastructure vehicles
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This includes close integration with TWF's investment vehicles and partners.
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We work on system-level design, not isolated interventions.
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Basin-level planning across energy, water and food systems
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Infrastructure prioritisation under scarcity and volatility scenarios
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Deployment strategies for water technology ecosystems
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Urban and industrial resilience frameworks
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Beyond strategy, we support implementation on the ground.
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Acting as embedded advisors within governments and institutions
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Supporting execution of national programmes and investment vehicles
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Partnering on pilot deployments and regional initiatives
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Coordinating across public, private, and philanthropic stakeholders
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The Institute develops core intellectual frameworks shaping the field.
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Operating model
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The TWF Institute operates through a federated partner structure.
The Water Foundation
We do not stop at analysis. We design, structure, and support the implementation of national, regional, and basin-level water strategies.
The Water Foundation
2.1 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water in the same year
WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
4 billion people live under severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year.
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, Science Advances, Four billion people facing severe water scarcity, 2016
72% of global freshwater withdrawals are used by agriculture
FAO, Agricultural water management, 2025; FAO, 2025 AQUASTAT Water Data Snapshot, 2025
All other withdrawals 28%
FAO, Agricultural water management, 2025; FAO, 2025 AQUASTAT Water Data Snapshot, 2025
Global Impact
This is more than a crisis. It's a call to invest in the future, where innovation meets impact.
The Water Foundation
The Water Foundation. Anchor, capital, thought leadership.
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Continuous Innovation. Perpetual motion of water solutions.
The Water Foundation
We build an ecosystem that addresses one of the least appreciated challenges of our time: water scarcity and impending degradation of our water systems.
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We break the patterns of the status quo. Systems thinking requires systems approaches.
The Water Foundation
Each component of our ecosystem feeds into the next, creating a self-reinforcing cycle that accelerates water innovation. From early-stage ideation to industrial-scale deployment, we ensure that promising solutions receive the support they need at every stage of their journey.
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Investment and innovation in PFAS destruction technologies have increased significantly since 2020, driven by growing regulatory pressure and demand for solutions that can permanently destroy PFAS rather than simply remove them from water.
Cleantech Group, PFAS Destruction Technologies See Surge in Innovation and Investment, 2025
The Water Foundation's commitment to investing in circular water technology is a crucial step towards addressing the global water crisis. By supporting innovative solutions, empowering local communities, and fostering global partnerships, the Foundation is working to create a more sustainable and equitable water future for all.
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Reduced water waste and pollution
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Energy recovery from wastewater
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Nutrient recycling for agriculture
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Sustainable urban water systems
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One Water. An integrated approach to water sustainability and resilience.
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Reliable and Resilient Water Utilities. Thriving Cities. Competitive Business and Industry. Sustainable Agricultural Systems. Social and Economic Inclusion. Healthy Waterways
US Water Alliance, One Water Roadmap, 2016
Our work directly contributes to multiple SDGs, creating a ripple effect across global development targets.
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Clean Water and Sanitation. Ensuring access to clean water and proper sanitation for communities worldwide through innovative technologies and infrastructure development.
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Climate Action. Addressing water-related impacts of climate change through adaptive technologies and resilient infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather events.
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Sustainable Cities and Communities. Promoting sustainable development in local communities by building resilient water systems that support long-term growth and prosperity.
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Partnerships for the Goals. Fostering global collaboration to achieve the SDGs by bringing together governments, businesses, NGOs, and communities in coordinated water initiatives.
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SDGs 6 and 13 are the Foundation's primary alignment, and SDGs 11 and 17 are among its additional contributions
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We don't bet on silver bullets. We underwrite the ecosystem.
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This is not charity: it's catalytic capital designed for systemic return.
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Water scarcity and contamination rising globally.
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The Water Foundation empowers individuals, organisations, and states to develop strategic capacity, increase resilience, and shape circular water and resource infrastructures for the future.
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We develop water strategies and solutions across the water cycle and for each and every water challenge. We enable the research, development and scaling of new or hidden technologies.
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Our setup enables us to receive donations and apply best practices in blended finance for development and impact.
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As global water challenges intensify, the demand for breakthrough technologies in water treatment and management is rising.
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The Water Foundation's supporters provide us with a solid financial base to supercharge this process.
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water scarcity and impending degradation of our water systems.
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Scroll to our strategy
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Everything Water
Water is a $800B+ global sector, but most businesses are small, public, or undercapitalised.
The Water Foundation
The counter-intuitive facts about how water impacts livelihoods everywhere.
The Water Foundation
Water stress increases the risk of state failure and conflict. The World Bank's High and Dry finds that changes in water availability and variability can induce migration and ignite civil conflict, that food price spikes caused by droughts inflame latent conflicts, and that rainfall shocks strain government budgets until capacity and popularity decline and regime change becomes more likely. It calls water scarcity a conflict risk multiplier in some cases rather than a cause of war between states, which it says rarely, if ever, fight over water alone.
World Bank, High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the Economy, 2016
Water isn't just a resource: it's a human right. The UN formally recognised access to clean water and sanitation as a human right in 2010, but billions still lack basic access.
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The poorest often pay the most for water. Informal urban residents can pay 10 to 50 times more per litre than wealthier residents connected to public systems.
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Clean water doesn't always mean safe water. Treated water may still contain PFAS, microplastics, or resistant bacteria not yet fully regulated.
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Up to 60% of irrigation water is lost due to inefficient methods like flood irrigation. Precision agriculture adoption remains low in most regions.
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More water is exported invisibly than visibly. Countries export billions of litres of virtual water via food, clothing, and industrial goods. One kilogram of beef takes about 15,000 litres; one cotton shirt about 2,700.
The Water Foundation
The fashion industry is one of the largest water polluters. Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally, and a single pair of jeans can require 7,500 litres of water to produce.
The Water Foundation
Food waste is also water waste. About a third of the food produced today is not eaten, some 1.3 billion tonnes a year. FAO puts the blue water footprint of that wastage at about 250 cubic kilometres, which is almost three times the volume of Lake Geneva, or the annual water discharge of the Volga River.
FAO, Food Wastage Footprint, 2013
Melting glaciers can temporarily increase water supply, then cause collapse. In regions like the Andes, Himalayas, and Alps, glacier melt has increased river flows, but once glaciers vanish, long-term water availability drops sharply.
The Water Foundation
Water scarcity is rarely about physical shortage. Countries like India and Brazil have abundant freshwater resources but suffer from severe water stress due to mismanagement and pollution.
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Centralised urban systems can collapse rapidly under stress, as shown by Cape Town's Day Zero crisis.
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21 of the world's 37 largest aquifers are being depleted faster than they can be replenished. Of the 21, 13 are classed as significantly distressed.
Richey et al., Water Resources Research, Quantifying renewable groundwater stress with GRACE, 2015
Properly treated wastewater can supply water, recover nutrients, and even generate energy, making it a circular economy powerhouse.
The Water Foundation
Desalination is growing fast but not without cost. Over 300 million people depend on desalinated water, but it is energy-intensive and produces toxic brine.
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Chlorination of water, a public health revolution, is only about 120 years old. CDC dates routine disinfection of a community drinking water supply in the United States to 1908, when Jersey City began it, and thousands of cities and towns followed within the decade. Typhoid fever fell from about 100 cases per 100,000 people in 1900 to 33.8 by 1920.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, History of Drinking Water Treatment, 2012
Water has no global price, but its value is rising fast. Despite its essential nature, water isn't priced in any coordinated global system, yet water rights are now traded on futures markets, such as California's Nasdaq Veles Index.
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Bottled water has overtaken carbonated soft drinks in many markets and is projected to reach $500 billion in value by 2030. It is one of the fastest-growing beverage categories worldwide.
The Water Foundation
We build an ecosystem that addresses one of the least appreciated challenges of our time: water scarcity and impending degradation of our water systems.
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Agriculture wastes more water than all cities combined.
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High-income countries waste far more water than low-income ones.
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Global bottled water consumption is now greater than all beverages except tea.
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Most water-related deaths aren't from thirst, but from preventable disease.
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Cities are more water-vulnerable than rural areas.
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Wastewater is often more valuable than the freshwater it replaces.
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Energy has oil markets. Tech has venture capital. Water, the most fundamental input to life and economy, still lacks coordinated early-stage capital or infrastructure buy-in.
The Water Foundation
access to water technology, treatment IP, and resilient supply chains will become a geopolitical asset class.
The Water Foundation
From hydrogen to battery production, green steel to data centres, the entire climate transition is water-intensive.
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Insurance losses from water-related events now outpace fire and wind in many markets.
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You can replace fossil fuels. You can switch food crops. But there is no substitute for water.
The Water Foundation
Water systems are shovel-ready, commercially viable, and universally needed. The pipeline exists; the capital doesn't.
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Water will define global stability more than energy this century.
The Water Foundation
While tech chases the next break, investing in water means building what's unbreakable.
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As risk, regulation, and need converge, the first $10B watertech company will emerge
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Water-sharing treaties, such as the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, have remained intact even during periods of military conflict.
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In some regions, more people have access to smartphones than to safely managed drinking water or sanitation.
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Women collecting water face increased risk of harassment and violence, particularly in displaced or conflict-affected settings.
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Nitrate, arsenic, and pharmaceutical contamination are widespread, yet largely undetectable without lab testing, even in treated water.
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A litre of water weighs about 1 kg, while a litre of crude oil weighs about 0.8 to 0.9 kg. Bottled water is frequently more expensive than petrol in many regions.
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Up to 15% of electricity in some countries is used to extract, treat, and pump water.
The Water Foundation
An estimated 45 million cubic metres of water are lost daily through leaks in water distribution systems worldwide, enough to serve nearly 200 million people.
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Water-related disasters account for over 90% of all natural disasters.
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Climate change and melting ice caps are redistributing salinity in the oceans
The Water Foundation
More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence. Unsafe water and poor sanitation cause more deaths annually than war, terrorism, and homicide combined.
The Water Foundation
Most innovation happens far from where it is needed. Most watertech patents come from Europe and North America, while the greatest need is in South Asia, Africa, and the MENA region.
The Water Foundation
The average American uses over 300 litres a day; the average German, just about 120 litres.
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Some of the oldest functioning water infrastructure is Roman. Several Roman aqueducts and water systems, such as the Pont du Gard in France, still function or have inspired modern systems over 2,000 years later, showcasing the engineering prowess of ancient Rome.
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Some countries import water by importing energy. Water-scarce countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia import electricity and fuels to reduce the need for local water-intensive power generation, effectively importing water in the form of energy.
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The majority of rain never reaches aquifers or reservoirs. Over 60% of rainfall is lost to runoff, evaporation, or immediate use, making rainwater harvesting and recharge critical in water-scarce zones.
The Water Foundation
Dams cause both water abundance and scarcity. While dams generate power and store water, they also disrupt ecosystems, displace millions, and reduce downstream flow, sometimes exacerbating scarcity.
The Water Foundation
Water Dashboard
The world loses fifteen times what it puts into water each year, and puts in a seventh of what meeting the targets needs.
The Water Foundation
about 3% of total climate finance was water-related, on average, from 2016 to 2020
IWMI, Explainer: Climate finance and water, 2024
74% of all natural disasters between 2001 and 2018 were water-related
UNESCO and UN-Water, United Nations World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change, 2020
21 of 37 of the world's largest aquifers have exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted, 13 of them significantly distressed
Richey et al., Water Resources Research, Quantifying renewable groundwater stress with GRACE, 2015
about $58tn the annual value of water and freshwater ecosystems in 2021, equivalent to 60% of global GDP
WWF, The High Cost of Cheap Water, 2023
Water Explorer
SSP3-7.0 represents a “business as usual” scenario with temperatures increasing by 2.8°C to 4.6°C by 2100.
WRI, Aqueduct 4.0: Updated Decision-Relevant Global Water Risk Indicators, 2023
SSP1-2.6 represents an “optimistic” scenario limiting the rise in average global surface temperatures by 2100 to 1.3°C to 2.4°C compared to preindustrial levels (1850 to 1900) (Arias et al. 2021).
WRI, Aqueduct 4.0: Updated Decision-Relevant Global Water Risk Indicators, 2023
SSP5-8.5 represents a “pessimistic” scenario with temperature increases up to 3.3°C to 5.7°C.
WRI, Aqueduct 4.0: Updated Decision-Relevant Global Water Risk Indicators, 2023
The world's larger rivers, and the lines through lakes that join them, each with its water running towards the sea. The short rivers that lead to a coast's plastic-carrying mouths are drawn too.
The Water Foundation
Where rivers carry floating plastic into the ocean: the 1,659 river mouths that together carry 80% of it, each marked by its modelled emission for 2015.
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A river basin is the land whose water drains through one river and its tributaries to a single mouth. The lines are the divides between the 141 basins of 100,000 km² or more, where the water parts.
European Parliament and Council, Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, 2000
An aquifer is rock or sediment that holds water underground. A shared aquifer lies across a border, so the countries over it draw on the same water.
International Law Commission, Draft articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, 2008
The borders between countries on land, drawn where each country actually governs on the ground rather than where the law would put them.
Natural Earth, Disputed boundaries policy
© 2026 The Water Foundation.
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The data shown comes from the sources below, each under its own licence or terms.
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Water Footprint
A tenth of the water supplied to homes is consumed; the rest returns
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 1, 2011
About 62% of irrigation water applied is consumed (US, 2015)
USGS, Estimated use of water in the United States in 2015, Circular 1441, 2018
A cooling tower evaporates roughly 80% of the water it withdraws
Li et al., Making AI less “thirsty”, arXiv:2304.03271v5, 2025
AWARE 2.0 global factor for farm water of unknown origin: 43.1
Seitfudem et al., AWARE2.0 country aggregations, AWARE20_Countries_and_Regions.xlsx, version 1.0.0, 2025
AWARE 2.0 global factor for non-farm water of unknown origin: 17.9
Seitfudem et al., AWARE2.0 country aggregations, AWARE20_Countries_and_Regions.xlsx, version 1.0.0, 2025
AWARE 2.0 global factor for water of unknown use and origin: 39.5
Seitfudem et al., AWARE2.0 country aggregations, AWARE20_Countries_and_Regions.xlsx, version 1.0.0, 2025
AWARE 2.0 annual factors of 193 countries and territories (dataset row)
Seitfudem et al., AWARE2.0 country aggregations, AWARE20_Countries_and_Regions.xlsx, version 1.0.0, 2025
The global average consumer's water footprint, 1,385 m³ a year, about 3,800 L a day, 1996 to 2005
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 1, 2011
The world average consumer's farm products: 80% green, 11% blue, 9% grey
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
The world average consumer's food and goods, without household water: about 3,650 L a day
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
Germany's consumers, food and goods without household water: about 3,800 L a day
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
US consumers, food and goods without household water: about 7,500 L a day
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
German households use about 126 L a person a day (2022)
Umweltbundesamt, Wassernutzung privater Haushalte, 2024
US public-supplied households: about 310 L a person a day (2015)
USGS, Estimated use of water in the United States in 2015, Circular 1441, 2018
A medium-length GPT-3 response, roughly 10 to 50 ml with its electricity
Li et al., Making AI less “thirsty”, arXiv:2304.03271v5, 2025
Water per kWh of AI server energy with its electricity, about 4.2 L (US average)
Li et al., Making AI less “thirsty”, arXiv:2304.03271v5, 2025
Energy for one AI image, about 0.6 to 2.9 Wh
MIT Technology Review, We did the math on AI’s energy footprint, 2025
An AI image, about 3 to 12 ml with its electricity
MIT Technology Review, We did the math on AI’s energy footprint, 2025
Energy for one five-second AI video clip from one open model, about 0.94 kWh
MIT Technology Review, We did the math on AI’s energy footprint, 2025
A five-second AI video clip, about 4 L with its electricity
MIT Technology Review, We did the math on AI’s energy footprint, 2025
An H100 GPU at full load draws up to 700 W
NVIDIA, NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPU
One GPU hour at full load, about 3 L with its electricity
NVIDIA, NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPU
An hour of streaming or video calls, from under 0.1 L to about 12 L
IEA, The carbon footprint of streaming video: fact-checking the headlines, 2020
US data centres consumed about 0.38 L on site per kWh in 2023
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
US data centres' average on-site WUE, just over 0.36 L per kWh, 2023
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
The world average consumer's other food, 576 m³ a year (derived from Report 50, Appendix VII)
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
The world average consumer's non-food farm goods, 39 m³ a year (derived)
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
The world average consumer's industrial goods, 65 m³ a year (Report 50, Appendix VII)
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
Beef: about 15,400 L per kg
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 48, Volume 1, 2010
Pork: about 6,000 L per kg
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 48, Volume 1, 2010
Chicken: about 4,300 L per kg
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 48, Volume 1, 2010
Milk: about 1,000 L per kg, about 255 L a glass
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 48, Volume 1, 2010
Cheese: about 5,060 L per kg, about 150 L for 30 g
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 48, Volume 1, 2010
Coffee: about 130 L a cup
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
Rice: about 2,600 L per kg, milled, world average
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
Sugar: about 1,580 L per kg, world average
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
Almonds: about 16,000 L per kg, shelled
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
Chocolate: about 1,700 L a 100 g bar
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
Avocados: about 2,000 L per kg, about 400 L for a 200 g avocado
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
Wine: about 110 L a 125 ml glass
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
Beer: about 75 L a 250 ml glass
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
A cotton T-shirt: about 2,700 L
Chapagain et al., The water footprint of cotton consumption, Ecological Economics 60(1), 2006
A cut rose from Lake Naivasha: about 9 L a stem
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, Mitigating the water footprint of export cut flowers from the Lake Naivasha Basin, Kenya, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 45, 2010
Petrol: 2.8 to 6.6 L of water consumed per litre
Argonne National Laboratory, Consumptive water use in the production of ethanol and petroleum gasoline, ANL/ESD/09-1, 2009
Ethanol: about 1,200 to 2,900 L per litre, by crop
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
A short-haul return flight, about 1,300 km each way: about 90 L of jet fuel a passenger (2019)
ICCT (Graver, Rutherford and Zheng), CO2 emissions from commercial aviation: 2013, 2018, and 2019, 2020
A long-haul return flight, about 4,700 km each way: about 330 L of jet fuel a passenger (2019)
ICCT (Graver, Rutherford and Zheng), CO2 emissions from commercial aviation: 2013, 2018, and 2019, 2020
Jet fuel: 4.1 to 7.4 L of water consumed per litre
Staples et al., Water consumption footprint and land requirements of large-scale alternative diesel and jet fuel production, Environmental Science & Technology 47(21), 2013
A standard showerhead: about 9.5 L a minute
US EPA, WaterSense: Showerheads
A bath: about 80 L typical, up to about 265 L for a full tub
Waterwise, How to Save Water
Water at home besides body care: about 67 L a day (Germany 2023, derived)
Umweltbundesamt, Trinkwasserverwendung im Haushalt 2023, the chart's data (from BDEW), 2024
An uncovered pool: about 1 to 2.5 m³ of evaporation per m² a year
US EPA, WaterSense: Jump Into Pool Water Efficiency, 2022
A meal with meat: about 1,200 L, a third of a day's diet
Hoekstra, The hidden water resource use behind meat and dairy, Animal Frontiers 2(2), 2012
A vegetarian meal: about 770 L, a third of a day's diet
Hoekstra, The hidden water resource use behind meat and dairy, Animal Frontiers 2(2), 2012
Water consumed per MWh of grid electricity, 47 countries (WRI 2020, dataset row)
WRI, Guidance for calculating water use embedded in purchased electricity, 2020
Germany's grid consumes about 1.9 m³ of water per MWh (WRI 2020)
WRI, Guidance for calculating water use embedded in purchased electricity, 2020
Wind and solar consume almost no water per MWh
Macknick et al., Operational water consumption and withdrawal factors for electricity generating technologies, Environmental Research Letters 7, 2012
Cooling demand rises close to 8% per °C (New York City)
Ortiz et al., Climate change impacts on peak building cooling energy demand in a coastal megacity, Environmental Research Letters 13, 2018
Doubling vegetarian options raised vegetarian sales by about 8 to 15 points
Garnett et al., Impact of increasing vegetarian availability on meal selection and sales in cafeterias, PNAS 116(42), 2019
Unmetered homes use about 11 to 20% more.
University of Southampton, Fitting water meters has immediate effects, 2015
Leak flow falls about 1% for every 1% lower average pressure
Lambert, Leakage reductions: the fundamental role of pressure management, WaterWorld
Municipal water use rises about 1 to 4% per °C (US)
Opalinski, Response of municipal water use to weather across the contiguous US, Colorado State University, 2018
Seawater desalination plants have used about 2.5 to 4 kWh per m³ (2004)
Busch and Mickols, Economics of desalination: reducing costs by lowering energy use, WaterWorld, 2004
A US golf facility applied a median of about 82,000 m³ in 2020
GCSAA, Water management study finds water use down by 29% at U.S. golf facilities, 2022
A car wash: about 60 to 320 L of fresh water, by type
US EPA, WaterSense at Work, Section 5.4: Vehicle Washes, 2023
80% of natural runoff reserved: the presumptive standard
Hoekstra et al., Global monthly water scarcity: blue water footprints versus blue water availability, PLoS ONE 7(2), 2012
Lost and wasted food crops take about a quarter of the water used to grow food crops
Kummu et al., Lost food, wasted resources, Science of the Total Environment 438, 2012
Population of the fifteen countries, 2025 (UN WPP 2024)
UN DESA, World Population Prospects 2024, WPP2024_TotalPopulationBySex.csv.gz, 2024
Water footprint of consumption per person in the fifteen countries, by part, 1996 to 2005 (Report 50, Appendix VIII)
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
Water used by the fifteen countries' farms per person, 1996 to 2005 (derived from Report 50)
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
Blue share of the water used by the fifteen countries' farms, 1996 to 2005 (derived from Report 50)
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
Share of the water the fifteen countries' farms use that leaves in exports, 1996 to 2005 (derived from Report 50)
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 2: Appendices, 2011
Electricity from fossil and nuclear plants in the fifteen countries, 2025 (Ember)
Ember, Yearly electricity data, global, release_generation_yearly_global.csv (CC BY 4.0), 2026
Electricity from hydropower in the fifteen countries, 2025 (Ember)
Ember, Yearly electricity data, global, release_generation_yearly_global.csv (CC BY 4.0), 2026
Freshwater consumed per kWh at fossil and nuclear plants, by country (derived from Mekonnen et al. 2015 and Ember)
Mekonnen et al., The consumptive water footprint of electricity and heat: a global assessment, Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology 1, 2015
Reservoir evaporation per MWh of hydropower, by region (derived from Mekonnen et al. 2015)
Mekonnen et al., The consumptive water footprint of electricity and heat: a global assessment, Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology 1, 2015
Electricity used by data centres in Germany, the US, China and Japan
Bitkom, Rechenzentren in Deutschland: KI treibt Wachstum, 2025
Natural runoff of the nine river basins, 1996 to 2005 (Hoekstra et al. 2012, Table S2)
Hoekstra et al., Table S2, monthly natural runoff for the world's major river basins, 2012
Blue water footprint of the nine river basins, 1996 to 2005 (Hoekstra et al. 2012, Table S1)
Hoekstra et al., Table S1, monthly blue water footprint for the world's major river basins, 2012
People living in the nine river basins, 1996 to 2005 (Hoekstra et al. 2012, Table S4)
Hoekstra et al., Table S4, monthly blue water scarcity for the world's major river basins, 2012
Months a year of low, moderate, significant and severe blue water scarcity in the nine river basins, 1996 to 2005 (Hoekstra et al. 2012, Table S4)
Hoekstra et al., Table S4, monthly blue water scarcity for the world's major river basins, 2012
Nile: about 18.8 km³ a year evaporates from dams
Nile Basin Initiative, State of the Nile Basin 2021, 2021
Agriculture: 92% of the world's blue water footprint
Hoekstra et al., Global monthly water scarcity: blue water footprints versus blue water availability, PLoS ONE 7(2), 2012
Most water use never shows up on a meter. It is embedded in food, energy and clothing, and lost in pipes before it arrives.
Hoekstra and Mekonnen, The water footprint of humanity, PNAS 109(9), 2012
the far larger volume embedded in what residents consume.
The Water Foundation
Rain stored in soil, taken up by crops
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 1, 2011
Drawn from rivers, lakes and aquifers
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 1, 2011
Needed to dilute pollution to safe levels
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, National water footprint accounts, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50, Volume 1, 2011
Nearly all of a chocolate bar's water footprint is green water, rain on the farms
The Water Foundation
The water in coffee is in the beans, not the cup, so a smaller cup won't help.
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
Walnuts take about 40% less water a kilo, so make half your handfuls walnuts.
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
Evaporation is one of the main ways a pool loses water, and a solid cover cuts it by more than 90% while it is on.
US EPA, WaterSense: Jump Into Pool Water Efficiency, 2022
In Chile's Ligua and Petorca valleys, where avocados are grown, groundwater fell in three wells out of four, mostly through overuse by farming.
Duran-Llacer et al., Lessons to Be Learned: Groundwater Depletion in Chile's Ligua and Petorca Watersheds through an Interdisciplinary Approach, 2020
Your meter reads two minutes of showering less a day, about 19 L
The Water Foundation
The US grid consumes about 3.1 m³ of water per MWh
WRI, Guidance for calculating water use embedded in purchased electricity, 2020
A certificate or a contract does not lower the water behind the power you draw from the grid.
WRI, Guidance for calculating water use embedded in purchased electricity, 2020
Run the cooling tower at more cycles of concentration. Going from three to six cuts its make-up water by 20%.
US EPA, WaterSense at Work, Section 6.3: Cooling Towers, 2012
A tap dripping once a second wastes more than 11 m³ a year.
US EPA, WaterSense: Fix a Leak Week
Ask your largest holdings to report water by site through CDP Water Security.
CDP, Question Changes and Questionnaire Map: 2022 to 2023, CDP Water Security Questionnaire
Engage thermal utilities on dry cooling. It consumes an order of magnitude less water than a cooling tower, for an output penalty of about 2 to 7% a year.
Macknick et al., Operational water consumption and withdrawal factors for electricity generating technologies, Environmental Research Letters 7, 2012
AB InBev aims for 2 litres per litre across its breweries, and Coca-Cola FEMSA reports 1.36.
AB InBev, Water; Coca-Cola FEMSA, Release of 5 September 2024, 2024
A kilogram of finished cotton fabric also carries about 10,000 L from growing the cotton, so ask about the fibre as well as the dye house.
Mekonnen and Hoekstra, The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products, Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47, Volume 1, 2010
A wet-cooled coal or nuclear plant consumes about 1.8 to 2.6 L of water per kWh, a wind turbine none.
Macknick, Newmark, Heath and Hallett, NREL, A review of operational water consumption and withdrawal factors for electricity generating technologies, 2011
Cool with lake, river or seawater instead of cooling towers where you can. Stockholm and Toronto already do.
Enwave, Toronto is home to the world's largest lake-powered cooling system; Stockholm Data Parks and Stockholm Exergi, A brief introduction to district heating and district cooling
Groundwater can take tens, hundreds or even thousands of years to move through an aquifer.
USGS, Groundwater age
A weekly 150 g beef meal swapped for chicken saves about 240 L of water a day
The Water Foundation
Higher irrigation efficiency rarely reduces the water farms consume.
Grafton et al., The paradox of irrigation efficiency, 2018
US mining, oil and gas withdrew about 5,500 million m³ of water in 2015, about half of it saline
USGS, Estimated use of water in the United States in 2015, Circular 1441, 2018
The Colorado River Compact apportions about 19.7 km³ a year
Congressional Research Service, Management of the Colorado River, R45546, 2025
The Colorado's natural flow at Lees Ferry has averaged about 15.5 km³ a year since 2000
Congressional Research Service, Management of the Colorado River, R45546, 2025
The 1959 Nile Waters Agreement gives Egypt 55.5 km³ and Sudan 18.5 and sets 10 km³ aside for the reservoir's losses
United Nations Treaty Series, Agreement between the Republic of the Sudan and the United Arab Republic for the full utilization of the Nile waters, 1959
The Indus Basin Irrigation System is the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world, and groundwater is being depleted in the Indian part of the basin
FAO AQUASTAT, Indus transboundary river basin overview, 2011; Hoekstra et al., Global monthly water scarcity: blue water footprints versus blue water availability, PLoS ONE 7(2), 2012
The Ganges floods in the monsoon, runs short in the dry season, and relies heavily on groundwater
FAO AQUASTAT, Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna overview, 2011; Hoekstra et al., Global monthly water scarcity: blue water footprints versus blue water availability, PLoS ONE 7(2), 2012
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan of 2012 cut consumptive use by 2,750 GL a year
MDBA, Basin Plan 2012, Explanatory Statement, 2012
At least 7,600 km² of the Mesopotamian Marshes disappeared between 1973 and 2000
Partow, UNEP, The Mesopotamian Marshlands: Demise of an Ecosystem, 2001
Reservoirs in the upper and lower Mekong have trapped most of its sediment, and the river runs short in the dry season
Mekong River Commission, Sediment monitoring
The Danube basin is shared by 19 countries
ICPDR, International cooperation: the example of the ICPDR, 2022
In Germany, power plants take more water than any other sector, and most of the water industry and power draw for themselves cools their plants
Umweltbundesamt, Nichtöffentliche Wasserversorgung
An adult drinks about 2 L of water a day, as WHO assumes
World Health Organization, Guidelines for drinking-water quality: fourth edition incorporating the first and second addenda, 2022
Olympic pools a year, at 2,500 m³ each
FINA, Swimming Pool Certificate for Olympic Games and World Championships, 2020; FINA, Facilities Rules 2017 to 2021, 2017
Olympic pools a day, at 2,500 m³ each
FINA, Swimming Pool Certificate for Olympic Games and World Championships, 2020; FINA, Facilities Rules 2017 to 2021, 2017
A cubic metre of water weighs about a tonne.
USGS Water Science School, Water Density; BIPM, The International System of Units (SI), 9th edition, 2019
The Foundation offers a pledge named "TWF Water Pledge"
The Water Foundation
Set your own targets before someone else has to. Using water is part of a good life and a working economy. The pledge is about using it within what the river can give, and giving some back.
The Water Foundation
Organisation pledge 1: Measure and publish our water footprint every year, supply chain included
The Water Foundation
Organisation pledge 2: Grow within the water we can count on: index at or below 1 by 2035
The Water Foundation
Organisation pledge 3: Use 25% less scarcity-weighted blue water than with no new policies
The Water Foundation
Organisation pledge 4: Run on renewable electricity
The Water Foundation
Organisation pledge 5: Work with suppliers in water-stressed regions to cut their water by 20%
The Water Foundation
Organisation pledge 6: Give back at least what our sites consume where water is scarce
The Water Foundation
The organisation pledge's delivery plan: plant-based dishes up 20 points, rain and greywater 30%, process water recirculated 30%, dry cooling 100%
The Water Foundation
City pledge 1: Measure and publish the city's water balance every year
The Water Foundation
City pledge 2: Stay within local limits: scarcity index at or below 1 by 2040
The Water Foundation
City pledge 3: Take no more freshwater than today, even as the city grows
The Water Foundation
City pledge 4: Cut non-revenue water to 10% or less
The Water Foundation
City pledge 5: Reuse at least 25% of treated wastewater
The Water Foundation
City pledge 6: Treat all wastewater before it reaches the river
The Water Foundation
The city pledge's delivery plan: tiered pricing 10%, sponge city 5 points, cleaner grid 30%, drought-tolerant parks 30%, network pressure 20% lower, and every home metered from 50% delivered
The Water Foundation
Your answers stay in your browser, and The Water Foundation does not receive or store them.
The Water Foundation
AI and Water
Data centre electricity is projected to double by 2030
IEA, Energy and AI: Energy demand from AI, 2025
Global data-centre electricity consumption was around 415 TWh in 2024
IEA, Energy and AI: Energy demand from AI, 2025
Around 945 TWh in 2030, the IEA's Base Case projection
IEA, Energy and AI: Energy demand from AI, 2025; IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2026; IEA, Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2025
2.3× the 2030 projection against the 2024 estimate
IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2026
88% of surveyed organisations used AI in at least one business function in 2025, up from 78% in 2024
Stanford HAI, AI Index Report 2026, 2026
5 technology companies now spend more capital than the world invests in oil and gas production
IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2026
US data centres, 2023: most water sits behind the grid
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
US data centres directly consumed 66 billion litres of water in 2023, mostly for cooling
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
Nearly 800 billion litres consumed through the electricity supply of US data centres in 2023
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
Withdrawal is water taken from a surface or groundwater source; consumption is the portion not returned to the immediate water environment
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Global AI demand is projected to account for 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic metres of water withdrawal in 2027
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
0.38 to 0.60 billion cubic metres of water consumed through global AI demand in 2027
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
A 500 ml bottle for roughly 10 to 50 medium-length GPT-3 responses, depending on when and where it is deployed.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; Islam et al., Exploiting Spatio-Temporal Diversity for Water Saving in Geo-Distributed Data Centers, 2018; Microsoft, Sustainable by design: Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling, 2024
Estimated water consumption for one medium-length GPT-3 response, millilitres, at Microsoft's US data centre locations.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; Microsoft, Sustainable by design: Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling, 2024
In a simulation, a scheduler that moved it across hours and sites used about 25% less water than other schedulers.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Microsoft says its newest design, which evaporates none, avoids the need for more than 125 million litres a year per data centre.
Microsoft, Sustainable by design: Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling, 2024
Microsoft says it has expanded its use in Texas, Washington, California and Singapore.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; Islam et al., Exploiting Spatio-Temporal Diversity for Water Saving in Geo-Distributed Data Centers, 2018; Microsoft, Sustainable by design: Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling, 2024
About 100 rinses for each chip during manufacturing
CORDIS, The ultra-clean water making a splash in the semiconductor industry, 2021
About 3,800 L of ultrapure water per wafer at 2 nm, modelled
imec, Reducing the Environmental Impact of Wet Chemical Processes for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, 2026
Electricity per wafer rises 3.46 times from 28 nm to 2 nm, in imec's 2020 model
imec, The environmental footprint of logic CMOS technologies, 2020
NVIDIA's Blackwell GPUs are made on a custom TSMC 4NP process.
NVIDIA, Blackwell architecture; NVIDIA, GTC 2025 keynote deck, 2025; TSMC, 2nm Technology
28: Blackwell GPUs per wafer at most, two dies each, before any fail
NVIDIA, Blackwell architecture
of ultrapure water per Blackwell GPU, an estimate
imec, Reducing the Environmental Impact of Wet Chemical Processes for Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, 2026; imec, The environmental footprint of logic CMOS technologies, 2020; NVIDIA, Blackwell architecture; NVIDIA, GTC 2025 keynote deck, 2025; CORDIS, The ultra-clean water making a splash in the semiconductor industry, 2021; Focus Taiwan, TSMC buying trucked-in water in preparation for supply shortages, 2021; Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; CRS, Section 301 and China: Mature-Node Semiconductors, 2025; TSMC, 2nm Technology; ASML, TWINSCAN NXT:2050i
3.6 million Blackwell dies, two to a GPU, shipped to the four largest US cloud providers by March 2025, NVIDIA says
NVIDIA, GTC 2025 keynote deck, 2025
In February 2021, after months of scant rainfall in Taiwan, TSMC began buying trucked-in water for some of its fabs.
Focus Taiwan, TSMC buying trucked-in water in preparation for supply shortages, 2021
More than 90% of the excess heat is absorbed by the oceans
NOAA NCEI, Monthly Ocean Heat Content and Temperature Anomalies Released, 2021
A low water bill can coexist with a high cost of failure.
OECD, Financing a Water Secure Future, chapter 2: The Challenge of Financing Water-related Investments, 2022
2.1 bn people lack safely managed drinking water
WHO, 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water, 2025
3.4 bn people lack safely managed sanitation
WHO/UNICEF JMP, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025; WHO/UNICEF JMP, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024, on UNICEF Data, 2025; WHO, 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water, 2025
31% of projected global GDP, $70 trillion, exposed to high water stress by 2050
WRI, 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress, 2023
About 60% of the adaptation responses documented since 2014 address water-related hazards
IPCC, AR6 Working Group II, Chapter 4: Water, 2022
A city reuse utility treats and recirculates data-centre cooling water, reducing reliance on local groundwater, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft, Building Community-First AI Infrastructure, 2026
Avoid evaporation where local conditions allow.
Microsoft, Our 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report, 2025; Microsoft, Building Community-First AI Infrastructure, 2026
Find and fix leaks, with AI to detect them.
World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024
In developing countries, about 21 of every 100 litres of treated water leak from the pipes before reaching anyone.
World Bank, The Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in Developing Countries, 2006
About $164.6 bn a year of water spending in developing countries, estimated for 2017
World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending, Executive Summary, 2024
Public roughly 91%, private less than 2%
World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending, Executive Summary, 2024; World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024; OECD, Financing a Water Secure Future, chapter 2: The Challenge of Financing Water-related Investments, 2022
Up to $7 tn to mobilise for water infrastructure by 2030, globally: an upper estimate, not an annual sum
World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024
Cooling, power generation and chip fabrication can draw on substantial water.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
AI draws on the same water as homes, farms and businesses.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; WRI, 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress, 2023
Generating electricity can consume substantial water, and every facility draws on a specific grid and catchment.
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024; Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
All data centres, not AI alone.
IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2026
To see the water, look at the cooling system and at the electricity behind it.
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
The answer depends on the model, the workload, where it runs, how it is cooled and what electricity powers it.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
One billion cubic metres is a trillion litres.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; Islam et al., Exploiting Spatio-Temporal Diversity for Water Saving in Geo-Distributed Data Centers, 2018; Microsoft, Sustainable by design: Next-generation datacenters consume zero water for cooling, 2024
The weather outside changes the water cooling takes; the grid's fuel mix changes the water behind the electricity.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Hot hours raise evaporative cooling, so work that can wait, such as training, can move to cooler ones.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Cooling towers evaporate water. Dry coolers evaporate none but use more electricity, and so can take more water behind the grid.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Reclaimed or recycled water can stand in for drinking water in cooling, though it evaporates all the same.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; Islam et al., Exploiting Spatio-Temporal Diversity for Water Saving in Geo-Distributed Data Centers, 2018
Before a model answers a single question it needs chips, and chips are made where contamination would be unacceptable.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; CORDIS, The ultra-clean water making a splash in the semiconductor industry, 2021
Treatment, purification and reuse decide where chip capacity can grow.
The Water Foundation
Lower water per unit of computing can coexist with higher total consumption if activity grows faster.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Total water demand is water per unit of computing times the volume of computing. Efficiency shrinks the first; growth can outpace it.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
So ask for: Absolute volumes, not only intensity; Peak demand, not only annual totals; Source and season, not only the building.
The Water Foundation
The water question is where demand is added, when it peaks and whether communities keep a reliable supply.
The Water Foundation
Emissions and warming. Greenhouse gases alter Earth's energy balance.
NOAA NCEI, Monthly Ocean Heat Content and Temperature Anomalies Released, 2021
Demand and local pressure. Withdrawal and consumption affect a source shared with people and ecosystems.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; FAO, Agricultural water management: water scarcity
Thermal discharge is a third, site-specific question.
Barnthouse and Coutant, Modernizing thermal discharge assessments for the 21st century, 2022
AI is becoming infrastructure. It draws on the same water.
IEA, Energy and AI: Energy demand from AI, 2025; IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2026; IEA, Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2025; Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
AI is not one more customer on the network.
The Water Foundation
Hot weather can raise evaporative cooling needs precisely when water supplies are under pressure.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Dry-season capacity? Can service stay reliable in the hottest weeks?
The Water Foundation
Who pays? Who funds the added capacity?
The Water Foundation
Who carries the risk? Who faces restrictions if supply falls short?
The Water Foundation
We can change how efficiently our systems use water, but we cannot make their need for reliable water disappear.
The Water Foundation
Energy. Generation can use substantial water
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
Computing. Cooling, and water behind the grid
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
Cities. Reliability and safety, not litres
FAO, Agricultural water management: water scarcity; Global Commission on the Economics of Water, The Economics of Water, chapter 3: Towards a new economics of water, 2024; OECD, Financing a Water Secure Future, chapter 2: The Challenge of Financing Water-related Investments, 2022; LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024; WHO/UNICEF JMP, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025; WHO/UNICEF JMP, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024, on UNICEF Data, 2025
Food. Timing of supply, not only volume
The Water Foundation
Manufacturing. Downtime costs more than the water
The Water Foundation
These are service gaps with consequences for people's health, time and opportunity.
WHO, 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water, 2025
Safely managed: on premises, available when needed, free from contamination.
WHO, 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water, 2025
A separate service, measured separately.
WHO/UNICEF JMP, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025; WHO/UNICEF JMP, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024, on UNICEF Data, 2025; WHO, 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water, 2025
Water risk belongs in decisions about where and how we invest, including where AI infrastructure is built.
The Water Foundation
We track warming through greenhouse gases; many of its effects reach us through water.
IPCC, AR6 Working Group II, Chapter 4: Water, 2022
Drought. Storage, efficiency and reuse that hold through dry seasons.
IPCC, AR6 Working Group II, Chapter 4: Water, 2022
Flood. Retention landscapes and drainage that protect communities.
IPCC, AR6 Working Group II, Chapter 4: Water, 2022
Reliable services. Safe water and sanitation that keep working under stress.
IPCC, AR6 Working Group II, Chapter 4: Water, 2022
There are practical alternatives, and each one needs evaluating for local conditions.
The Water Foundation
Reuse. Treat and recirculate cooling water.
Microsoft, Our 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report, 2025; Microsoft, Building Community-First AI Infrastructure, 2026
Appropriate cooling. Avoid evaporation where local conditions allow.
Microsoft, Our 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report, 2025; Microsoft, Building Community-First AI Infrastructure, 2026; Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Repair. Find and fix leaks
Microsoft, Our 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report, 2025; Microsoft, Building Community-First AI Infrastructure, 2026; World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending, Executive Summary, 2024
Joint planning. Plan water and electricity together.
The Water Foundation
In The Water Foundation's own network, Rotreat builds modular membrane plants that recover water from industrial wastewater.
The Water Foundation
AI can help detect problems and forecast demand, when insight leads to action.
Shu et al., Long-term water demand forecasting using artificial intelligence models in the Tuojiang River basin, China, 2024
A model can flag a leak; an operator decides, a crew repairs, and only a measured outcome proves the value.
The Water Foundation
AI does one step in a chain: measure, detect or forecast, decide, act, verify.
The Water Foundation
A model can flag a leak.
The Water Foundation
Only a measured outcome proves the value.
The Water Foundation
Did it find actionable problems?
The Water Foundation
Did verified losses or interruptions fall?
The Water Foundation
What computing and upkeep did it need?
The Water Foundation
In The Water Foundation's own network, Aqua Predict forecasts a location's long-term water availability from satellite climate data.
The Water Foundation
Less loss. Better service. Lower avoidable cost.
World Bank, The Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in Developing Countries, 2006
Sometimes the most valuable water investment is improving the system we already have.
The Water Foundation
Delivery. More treated water reaches the customer it was paid for.
World Bank, The Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in Developing Countries, 2006; World Bank, What do private companies look for in a performance-based non-revenue water project?, 2018; World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending, Executive Summary, 2024
Energy. Less pumping and treatment spent on water that is lost.
World Bank, The Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in Developing Countries, 2006; World Bank, What do private companies look for in a performance-based non-revenue water project?, 2018; World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending, Executive Summary, 2024
Reliability. Steadier service, and sometimes new supply can wait.
World Bank, The Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in Developing Countries, 2006; World Bank, What do private companies look for in a performance-based non-revenue water project?, 2018; World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending, Executive Summary, 2024
The figures cover different scopes and are never added together, but they point to the same challenge: capable institutions, better projects and capital that can support them.
World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024; World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024
Project cash flow. Who pays? Over the project's lifetime: tariffs, public payments or contracts. Need alone does not make a project bankable.
World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024; World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future: An Assessment of Global Public Spending, Executive Summary, 2024; OECD, Financing a Water Secure Future, chapter 2: The Challenge of Financing Water-related Investments, 2022
The Water Foundation is stepping up to fill this gap at a systems level, using systems level and first principles thinking.
The Water Foundation
We bridge private and public sectors through blended finance instruments.
The Water Foundation
From catalytic seed to patient private equity, we work across the entire capital spectrum.
The Water Foundation
We accelerate the transition from water innovation to global resilience by turning bold ideas into bankable infrastructure and lasting equity.
The Water Foundation
The benefits of AI can be spread across the world, while its water demand lands on one community and one source.
The Water Foundation
As we expand access to AI, how do we protect access to water?
The Water Foundation
What AI costs in water, and how AI can help waste less of it.
The Water Foundation
Who benefits, who carries the risk, and how we finance the result.
The Water Foundation
Plan together. Finance reliability. Assign accountability.
The Water Foundation
Who decides, who benefits, who carries the risk?
The Water Foundation
AI can feel weightless. It is not. It runs on physical infrastructure. Chips use electricity and produce heat. Many data centres use water to remove that heat. And generating electricity, and manufacturing chips, can also use substantial water.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
The cloud has a physical address, and that address matters.
The Water Foundation
To see the whole footprint, it helps to look at three boundaries. The first is the facility itself: cooling and other uses on site. The second is the electricity supply: the water used to generate the power the facility consumes. The third is the equipment supply chain: the chips and servers, and the processes behind them.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
The second boundary is often the largest.
The Water Foundation
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that data centres in the United States directly consumed about 66 billion litres of water in 2023.
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
Their electricity supply was associated with nearly 800 billion litres of additional water consumption. These are estimates for all US data centres, not for AI alone. But they show why the building is only part of the picture.
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024
Two words matter here. Withdrawal is water taken from a river, a lake or an aquifer. Consumption is the part that is not returned to the local water environment, for example because it evaporates.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
They are very different numbers, so it is always worth asking which one a figure means.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
What about AI specifically? Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, project that, under their assumptions, AI-related water withdrawal could reach 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic metres in 2027, with consumption of 380 to 600 million cubic metres.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
It is a range, because the answer depends on the model, the workload, where it runs, how it is cooled and what electricity powers it.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
You may have heard that a chatbot conversation costs a bottle of water. That comes from the same research: about half a litre for 10 to 50 medium-length responses from an earlier model, GPT-3, varying with how it was deployed.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
It is not a universal figure for every prompt today.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
Then there are the chips. Chip factories use ultrapure water for processes where even tiny contamination would be unacceptable. During manufacturing, chips are rinsed about 100 times.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; CORDIS, The ultra-clean water making a splash in the semiconductor industry, 2021
And the chips AI runs on are the most demanding.
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In a model by the research institute imec, ultrapure water per wafer rises 2.3 times from an older 28 nanometre process to a leading-edge 2 nanometre process
imec, The environmental footprint of logic CMOS technologies, 2020
and electricity per wafer rises about 3.5 times.
imec, The environmental footprint of logic CMOS technologies, 2020
Water risk can become supply risk. In February 2021, after months of scant rainfall in Taiwan, the chipmaker TSMC began buying trucked-in water for some of its factories.
Focus Taiwan, TSMC buying trucked-in water in preparation for supply shortages, 2021
Why does all this matter now? Because AI is becoming infrastructure, much as the internet did.
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In survey data reported by the Stanford AI Index, 88 per cent of organisations said they used AI in 2025, up from 78 per cent a year earlier.
Stanford HAI, AI Index Report 2026, 2026
And it is being built at the scale of energy infrastructure. The International Energy Agency notes that the capital spending of just five technology companies is now larger than global investment in oil and gas production.
IEA, Key Questions on Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2026
The agency also estimates that data centres worldwide used about 415 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024.
IEA, Energy and AI: Energy demand from AI, 2025
In its base case, that more than doubles, to about 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, and AI is a major driver of that growth.
IEA, Energy and AI: Executive summary, 2025
Growth always lands somewhere: on a specific grid, a specific source, a specific catchment. Imagine new AI workloads drawing on a source that already supplies homes, farms and local businesses.
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024; WRI, 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress, 2023
In a hot, dry summer, cooling needs can rise precisely when water supplies are under pressure.
Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025
That does not mean every data centre causes shortages. It means the questions are bigger than litres. Can the system stay reliable in the hottest weeks? Who pays for the added capacity? And who carries the risk if supply falls short?
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The encouraging part is that design can change the outcome.
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And water and electricity can be planned together.
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Cooling water can be treated and recirculated. Where local conditions allow, cooling can avoid evaporation. Leaks can be found and fixed.
Microsoft, Building Community-First AI Infrastructure, 2026; Microsoft, Our 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report, 2025; Li et al., Making AI Less “Thirsty”, 2025; World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024
Microsoft reports, for example, that in Quincy, in the US state of Washington, it partnered with the city on a reuse utility that treats and recirculates data-centre cooling water, reducing reliance on local groundwater. That is the company's own account, but it shows what designing around a local constraint can look like.
Microsoft, Building Community-First AI Infrastructure, 2026
AI is also part of the answer. The World Bank describes AI-powered leak detection work with Microsoft and municipalities.
World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024
In Europe, adoption in the water sector itself is still early: in 2025, 13.1 per cent of water supply, sewerage and waste companies in the European Union used AI, against 20 per cent across all sectors.
Eurostat, 20% of EU enterprises use AI technologies, 2025
But AI does only one step in a chain. First, meters and sensors measure. Then AI can detect a problem or forecast demand. Then people decide, crews act, and finally the outcome is verified. A model can flag a leak, but only a repair, and a measured result, delivers the value. So a good test for any AI water project is simple. Did it find actionable problems? Were they fixed? Did losses or interruptions actually fall? And what computing and maintenance did it need?
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Consider why a leak matters so much. Before water reaches a customer, the utility has already extracted it, treated it and paid to pump it. When it escapes on the way, all of that has been spent without delivering the service.
World Bank, The Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in Developing Countries, 2006
Repairing the right leak can improve reliability, reduce operating costs, and sometimes postpone the need for expensive new supply.
World Bank, The Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in Developing Countries, 2006
Water is economic infrastructure. It supports cities, food production, manufacturing, energy and the digital economy. We can use water more efficiently, but we cannot make the need for reliable water disappear.
LBNL, 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, 2024; FAO, Agricultural water management: water scarcity
A factory may pay relatively little for a cubic metre of water and still lose substantial revenue if production stops. A low water bill can coexist with a high cost of failure.
OECD, Financing a Water Secure Future, chapter 2: The Challenge of Financing Water-related Investments, 2022
And the need is large. The World Health Organization and UNICEF estimate that in 2024, 2.1 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water, about one in four people
WHO, 1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water, 2025
and 3.4 billion lacked safely managed sanitation.
WHO/UNICEF JMP, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2024: special focus on inequalities, 2025
The World Resources Institute projects that by 2050, about 70 trillion US dollars of economic output, 31 per cent of projected global GDP, will be exposed to high water stress. Exposed does not mean lost.
WRI, 25 Countries, Housing One-Quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress, 2023
But it does mean that water risk belongs in decisions about where and how we invest, including where AI infrastructure is built.
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The World Bank estimated that developing countries spend about 165 billion US dollars a year on water
World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024
about 91 per cent of it from the public sector and less than 2 per cent from the private sector.
World Bank, Funding a Water-Secure Future, 2024
In a separate commentary, the Bank said the world needs to mobilise up to 7 trillion dollars by 2030 for water infrastructure. These figures cover different scopes and should not be added together. But they point to the same challenge: capable institutions, better projects, and capital that can support them.
World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024
That is also why different water projects need different money. A treatment business, a regulated utility, a new membrane technology and a wetland restoration project have different economics. Some can attract commercial capital. Some need public funding. Some can combine grants, guarantees and private investment.
OECD, Financing a Water Secure Future, chapter 2: The Challenge of Financing Water-related Investments, 2022
At The Water Foundation, our work connects technology, blended and sustainable finance, and the development and scaling of water businesses.
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Wherever water is reliable today, that reliability rests on protected sources and on systems built over generations. Wherever it is not, that work is still ahead. Either way, we should bring the same long-term thinking to the infrastructure now being planned, including the infrastructure for AI. So the question we put to every community and every city considering new AI infrastructure is this. How do we enable AI to grow while protecting reliable, affordable access to water, and who is accountable for delivering both?
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Water is where capital can affect the most change.
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Every part of the growing economy, AI included, depends on it, and the systems behind it are still underfunded.
Global Commission on the Economics of Water, The Economics of Water, chapter 3: Towards a new economics of water, 2024; World Bank, Closing the $7 Trillion Gap: Three Lessons on Financing Water Investments from World Water Week, 2024
That gap is an opportunity.
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Over the ten years to August 2026, the S&P Global Water Index delivered an annualised total return of about 10.5 per cent in US dollars, ahead of global utilities at 9 per cent.
S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P Global Water Index, 2026
The Water Foundation acts as both a charitable organisation and a strategic investor.
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Our Water Venture Builder turns the best water ideas into companies.
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Our Water VC Fund invests in the most promising teams and technologies.
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Our Water PE Fund acquires and strengthens established players and hidden champions across the water cycle.
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Together, they form one capital stack, from catalytic seed to patient private equity, turning bold ideas into bankable infrastructure and lasting equity.
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This is not charity. It is catalytic capital, designed for systemic return.
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If you want your capital to build the water systems that growth depends on, invest with us. You can reach us at info at the water foundation dot com.
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Thank you for listening. The sources for every figure in this guide are listed on this page.
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Partners
We believe in the power of collaboration between private enterprise and public institutions to create comprehensive water solutions.
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The Foundation names Hellenic Impact Investing Network as a partner
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The Foundation names Swiss Impact Office as a partner
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The Foundation names ChanceMaker Foundation as a partner
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The Foundation names Aqua Predict as a partner
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The Foundation names Seatrees as a partner
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The Foundation names Wild Assets as a partner
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The Foundation names Green Vault Holding as a partner
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The Foundation names Rotreat as a partner
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The Foundation names Hydreatio as a partner
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The Foundation names The Lossless Group as a partner
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The Foundation names Avestu Capital as a partner
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We collaborate with organisations across water, technology, finance, philanthropy and policy to advance water resilience.
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Our approach recognises that both private enterprise and public institutions have unique strengths in addressing water challenges. We foster partnerships that leverage the best of both sectors to create sustainable, scalable solutions.
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Leveraging market efficiency, innovation, and private capital to develop and scale water solutions. Private sector brings agility, technology, and investment to drive rapid progress.
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Ensuring universal access, regulatory frameworks, and public infrastructure development. Public sector provides governance, equity, and long-term planning for water sustainability.
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Examples of how private and public sectors work together to create innovative water solutions.
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Public-private partnerships for water infrastructure development and management.
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Collaborative development of policies that encourage private sector innovation.
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Sharing innovative solutions between private companies and public institutions.
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Whether you're from the private sector or public sector, there are opportunities to work together on water sustainability.
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partners@the-water-foundation.com is the address for partnership enquiries
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Events and Convenings
Christoph Schwager and Verena Sturm representing The Water Foundation at the Blue Economy & Finance Forum Monaco 2025
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Christoph Schwager and Verena Sturm at the Blue Economy & Finance Forum Monaco 2025
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An afternoon at Munich Climate Week, hosted by The Water Foundation: eight conversations on capital, technology and policy for a water-resilient Munich.
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The Water Resilience Stage
Capital, technology and policy for a water-resilient Munich.
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One afternoon. Eight conversations. One pathway from risk to implementation.
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From strategic resource to citizen action.
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Water crosses borders, and so does its risk.
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Capital mobilisation and market-building for water.
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How catalytic, venture and institutional capital can be mobilised for water, with Munich's investor community.
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Patient, long-horizon capital for water.
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Philanthropic capital that takes the first risk.
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A video expedition talk.
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Anticipating water risk rather than responding to water crises.
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Climate, water and energy: the challenge of sharing a finite resource.
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Turning the hardest wastewater into a resource.
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Making water resilience everyone's business.
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It brings a live resilient city demonstration for Munich, from assessment to action, and a preview of a water app for Munich's residents.
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Cities need a credible pathway from risk to implementation.
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Investors need credible vehicles through which to participate.
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The Water Resilience Stage brings those sides together in Munich: water as a system to strengthen and a market to build.
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Privacy Policy
We count visits to this website with Plausible Community Edition, which we host ourselves on a server in Nuremberg, Germany.
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Hetzner Online GmbH runs that server and processes the data on our behalf as our hosting provider.
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The analytics set no cookies and store nothing in your browser, and your IP address is not stored.
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To count unique visitors, your IP address and your browser's user agent are combined with a value that changes every day and kept only as a one-way hash.
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Your country is worked out from your IP address when a visit is recorded, and only the country is kept.
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For each visit we record the page, the website you came from, your browser, operating system and type of device, how far down the page you scroll and how long you stay.
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We also count how the site is used: links followed in the menu and the footer, buttons, links to other websites, downloads, email links, films started or paused, and the controls of our interactive pages, such as the water explorer, the water footprint calculator and the audio guide.
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A visit to a page that cannot be found and a form being sent are counted as well, never with what the form contains.
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None of this is recorded with your name, an email address or anything you type, and the answers you give the water footprint calculator never leave your browser.
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We use these statistics to understand how the website is used and to improve it.
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Imprint
With appreciation for the pioneering work of Michael P. Staton and The Lossless Group on The Water Foundation's digital presence.
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Accessibility
We aim to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards.
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Every Page
With thanks to Hussain Aga Khan and Focused on Nature Foundation, for our world class photo library.
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With thanks to Florian Wagner, for the films and photographs of his expeditions.
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You are a guest of nature, behave.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser
The Water Foundation, based in Munich, Dubai, Delhi, Vaduz, Amsterdam and Nairobi, is a global organisation working to ensure clean, accessible water for all through blended, unsiloed financial strategies.
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