What is Confluence? Learn More About Our Signature Impact Incubator for Water Access Innovation and Security
Access to clean water is a basic human right, yet millions of people in the United States still struggle with the consequences of water insecurity and lack of clean water access. More than 2.2 million people do not have access to clean water in their homes, and more than 44 million others have inadequate water systems, which could put their health at risk.
One of the moves the Liquid I.V. team has taken towards increasing water security is hosting our first leadership gathering and grantmaking program: Confluence.
Confluence brought together ten trailblazing and diverse organizations committed to advancing clean water security in communities. The event aimed to create new partnerships, drive innovation and collaboration, and set up these organizations for success both inside their organizations and out in the communities they serve.
Each of the ten organizations and 20 individuals participating in Confluence brought their unique perspectives and expertise to the table, focusing on different areas around clean water, including policy, environment, access, equity, and infrastructure.
Confluence is part of Liquid I.V.'s signature program, which supports engaged leaders in water security and clean water access. The event aims to cross-pollinate organizations to create effective and innovative solutions and provides catalytic funding to support their water access and protection projects.
Read about the critical work that Liquid I.V.’s first Confluence cohort does and find out how you can get involved.
###The Center for Water Security and Cooperation
The Center for Water Security and Cooperation (CWSC) is a nonprofit organization that uses the law as a tool for building long-term solutions to the largest water problems and to drive legal innovation and partnership.
They act as an impartial legal voice in the now-politicized sector to develop legal frameworks that guarantee water for economic, security, and domestic needs.
The CWSC’s programs focus on keeping every person connected to water across the country, building a stronger rule of law for water around the world, and making people more capable of using the law to protect their environment, their health, and their homes from poorly managed water. The CWSC’s leaders are advocates, educators, investigators, and experts who raise the law up as a solution to the world’s water challenges. The CWSC works to create and improve the laws and institutions that guard humanity’s most precious resource, ensuring that clean water is never a need neglected.
Learn more about CWSC’s work and how you can get involved here.
###Community Water Center
Based in California's Central Valley, Community Water Center (CWC) is a people-of-color focused, non-profit organization that works to ensure that all communities have access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water.
They achieve this by empowering local residents, providing technical support and training, and advocating for policies that prioritize drinking water in disadvantaged communities. The CWC was born from the work of its passionate founders, attorney Laurel Firestone with the Rural Poverty Water Project and community organizer Susana de Anda.
Their combined work across three offices has helped many communities obtain safe, clean, and affordable drinking water. The organization's ultimate goal is to ensure that all Californians have the basic human right to safe and affordable drinking water.
Learn how you can support Californians through CWC’s work.
###DigDeep
DigDeep is a human rights organization that works to ensure access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene for marginalized communities in the United States.
Their mission is straightforward: They want to ensure that every American has basic plumbing and running water, and their research shows that 2.2 million Americans do not. The organization primarily focuses on addressing water poverty in primarily tribal nations and rural communities, where access to clean water is often limited or nonexistent.
DigDeep uses a community-led approach to address water challenges, working with local partners to install water infrastructure, provide technical assistance, and promote sustainable water management practices. DigDeep currently is focusing on projects in Appalachia, The Navajo Nation, and Texas and have received funding and worked with us at Liquid I.V. in the past.
Find out more about DigDeep’s work with Liquid I.V. here or visit their website for more information on getting involved.
###Heal the Bay
Heal the Bay is a California-based non-profit environmental organization that works to protect the coastal waters and watersheds of Southern California, specifically in the greater Los Angeles area. Their work focuses on science-based advocacy, education, and community engagement to protect the health and well-being of the ocean, beaches, and watersheds.
The organization's programs include beach cleanups, water quality monitoring, stormwater pollution prevention, and public education and outreach. Current projects include holding wastewater treatment facilities accountable and reducing the production and use of single-use plastics.
Their ultimate goal is to create a healthy and thriving coastal environment that benefits both people and wildlife.
Learn how to get involved with Heal the Bay and how to visit the local wildlife aquarium, located under the Santa Monica Pier.
###Hispanic Access Foundation
The Hispanic Access Foundation is a nonprofit organization that connects Latino and other underrepresented people with partners and opportunities to create a more equitable society. The organization advocates for policies and programs that uplift and build bridges of access to promote the rise of Latino leaders.
Currently, programs focus on developing young leaders of color who want to serve their communities and conservation efforts, with a focus on elevating Latino voices to speak about issues that affect their daily lives. Some of these issues include access to clean water, protection of natural resources, and ensuring environmental justice for Latino communities.
Learn more about the Hispanic Access Foundation and how you can get involved here.
###Moonshot Missions
Moonshot Missions connects underserved communities with experienced public sector managers and officials to transform the water sector.
Using field-tested technology and management approaches, Moonshoot Missions works with communities to identify and customize water projects. The goal is to secure funding to solve environmental and public health concerns.
The organization focuses on developing and deploying cutting-edge solutions to water challenges, using a multidisciplinary approach that combines technology (peer-to-peer network), connecting water and wastewater facilities, and providing a road for implementation to serve communities who are in greatest need.
Learn more about Moonshot Mission’s work and find out how you can support it here.
###Pacific Institute
The Pacific Institute has worked for over 35 years to advance solutions for the planet’s most urgent water challenges.
The organization uses science-based research, feasible policy and practice solutions, and a diverse group of stakeholders to advance policy solutions on both the local and global level.
By 2030, The Pacific Institute hopes to bring the transformation to water resilience in the face of climate change, with focuses on initiatives and research around water and climate equity, water efficiency and reuse, and nature-based solutions.
Learn more about The Pacific Institute’s crucial work and how you can get involved.
###US Water Alliance
The US Water Alliance (USWA) aims to transform the way the nation thinks about, values, and manages our most important resource, water.
They accomplish this using education to change the mindset around water. In part this is achieved by viewing all water, from gray water to drinking water, as a resource that must be managed holistically, responsibly, and sustainably.
USWA brings together a diverse set of interests to educate the public and celebrate innovations in the water sector. The result is work that accelerates policies and programs that build strong water programs, with the goal of adopting One Water (the idea that all water is a resource) management in America.
Find out more about the US Water Alliance and how you can get involved.
###Waterkeeper Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance is a global movement of community-based water advocates who work together to protect and restore waterways and advance clean, healthy, and abundant water for all people and the planet. The organization consists of over 300 Waterkeeper groups in 48 countries across six continents, who patrol and protect more than 2.75 million square miles of rivers, lakes, and coastal waterways.
United in a shared mission to protect everyone’s right to clean water, Waterkeeper Alliance uses advocacy, citizen science, education, and legal action to address water pollution, protect drinking water sources, and promote sustainable water management policies, regulations, and practices. Waterkeeper Alliance also engages in international advocacy and supports Waterkeeper groups around the world.
Current campaigns focus on Clean Water Defense, Climate Change and Safe Energy, and Pure Farms, Pure Waters — including fighting for stronger regulations and enforcement of environmental laws, combating the global climate crisis and advocating for a no-carbon future, and battling pollution from industrial meat production.
###We the People of Detroit
We the People of Detroit (WPD) is a community organization that works to build community coalitions and increase access to the resources that inform, train, and mobilize the citizens of Detroit and beyond to improve their quality of life.
WPD works with and for the community to focus on issues like civil rights, land, water, education, and democratic processes. Detroiters have faced restrictive water policies that actively harm their communities, which motivates WPD to publish a critical counter narrative supported with data from their research. This organization also actively provides clean water to the people in the greater Detroit area who need it.
Learn more about WPD’s work and find out how you can support it here.
####Clean water is a vital resource, and Liquid I.V. recognizes it as the bedrock for wellness.
The work of these ten organizations, and the 20 individuals that represent them, is dedicated to ensuring water’s availability for all. Liquid I.V. wants to continue to elevate these water security leaders and plans to run its signature program, Confluence, for years to come.
By fostering collaboration and information sharing, this immersive and experiential event connected people so they could come to greater, more tangible water security solutions. Liquid I.V. also provided funding to each of the participating organizations to support projects that make a tangible difference in United States communities. We look forward to seeing the positive impact these organizations will make in advancing clean water security in the future.
The team here at Liquid I.V. knows that clean water security is a human right and Confluence is one of the ways we can create an impact. It's an example of how we can lean on our strengths to help reach the collective goal of universal water security by 2050.
We couldn’t do this critical work without the support of our consumers and fans. Thank you for helping us make an impact.
To learn more about our Impact efforts, learn more here.