The Future of Water Security: A Look into Aspen Institute’s National Water Strategy

 

/Kate Jaffee, Director | Policy, Energy & Environment Program, The Aspen Institute/

/February 19, 2026/

The Aspen Institute’s Energy & Environment Program recently published the Aspen National Water Strategy, a holistic plan to strengthen water security across the United States and ensure that communities, economies, and ecosystems can adapt and flourish in the face of growing water-related challenges.

Developed collaboratively with water sector leaders, including Duke University’s Nicholas Institute and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the strategy provides an end-to-end analysis of these and other water challenges in the U.S.

Today’s water challenges are systemic, increasingly severe, and economically consequential especially when considered wholistically, similar to the widely adopted One Water approach to water management started by the U.S. Water Alliance.

These are described in the national water strategy as the “Four Grand Challenges,” ranging from surface and groundwater, access to water services, conservation of freshwater ecosystems, improving water quality, and resilient responses to water-related disasters.

These challenges come into focus through the data: groundwater in parts of the High Plains is down by more than 100 feet;  nearly 850 billion gallons of untreated wastewater is discharged into natural ecosystems from combined sewer overflows each year; 93% of systems with serious Safe Drinking Water Act violations are small, under‑resourced utilities; and water‑related disasters now cost the nation over $32 billion annually in flooding alone.

Aspen Institute’s analysis demonstrates how these and many other challenges are founded in the same issue: a lack of water security, which they and partners define as reliable access to sufficient, safe water for people, economies, and ecosystems to thrive, with manageable levels of risk. U.S. water security challenges persist, not due to a lack of technology or local effort, but because the systems underlying water management, such as governance, financial barriers, or reactive management, are incongruent with today’s risks.

Beyond upgrading infrastructure, the national water strategy also emphasizes that institutional capacity, effective governance, and coordinated action across federal, state, tribal, local, nonprofit, and private-sector partners are critical to solve unique water security challenges nationwide.

Above all else, the national water strategy underlines the importance of partnership to solve water security challenges. Ensuring our communities, economies, and ecosystems are secure and thriving with access to clean water will require coordination and a strong vision for the future.

Dive into the full Aspen National Water Strategy, which includes six interconnected strategies essential to securing water for America’s communities, economies, and ecosystems.

The strategy’s cover art was designed by Lilli Watson, Senior Policy Associate, Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University.