A Defining Moment for WASH: Building for a Changing Climate

 

/Emma Housman, Senior Director, Sustainability and Social Impact – Xylem/

/March 25, 2026/

 

Global access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene systems—known as WASH—faces growing strain as climate impacts intensify and international development funding declines. Reservoir Center recently met with partners to explore this new era and uncover opportunities for private sector, public sector and civil society to come together to expand resilient WASH access.

While WASH is crucial to human health and wellbeing, cuts in official development assistance combined with water stress and regional conflicts are placing unprecedented pressures and amplifying the need for increased systems reliability. These shifts mark the beginning of a significant evolution in the approaches and practices guiding WASH program delivery.

Reservoir hosted two What’s Next for WASH? dialogues with partners in Washington D.C. and Nairobi, Kenya. All of us in attendance were collectively energized by a shared vision for the future of WASH. As we looked ahead, we dug into the emerging shifts reshaping the WASH landscape, from extreme weather to persistent service gaps, and highlighted forward‑thinking strategies like climate‑resilient innovations, community-centered solutions, and stronger governance approaches to help meet these challenges head-on.

Key takeaways include:

    • Shift from Concessional Grants: There is a growing transition from grant-based aid to blended finance mechanisms, underscoring the urgent need for utilities and projects to improve governance, creditworthiness, and operational performance to be investment-ready.
    • Utility Strengthening:Supporting utilities to enhance creditworthiness and governance remains critical. This includes operational efficiency improvements such as reducing non-revenue water, energy efficiency, and adopting tariff frameworks with affordability protections.
    • Blended Finance & Partnerships: Innovative finance models that combine guarantees, concessional capital, and technical assistance are essential to derisk investments and unlock private sector capital.
    • Focus on Developing Permanent Systems: Transitioning investment from immediate, short‑term delivery methods and instead investing in resilient, utility‑led water and sanitation services. These services are designed and budgeted using lifecycle costing, ensuring that systems are not only built but also maintained, upgraded, and financially sustainable over time.
    • Investing in Resilience: Water-related climate events such as droughts and floods intensify the need for strengthened WASH services and smarter technologies. Investing in climate-resilient systems, especially those powered by renewable energy, helps cut operating costs and ensures more dependable, sustainable service delivery.

Access to clean, safe drinking water is a shared responsibility, requiring collaboration between public and private funders and operators, as well as non-governmental organizations. Looking ahead, continued innovation, strategic investment, and cross-sector collaboration will be critical to scaling solutions that meet today’s needs and anticipate the challenges of tomorrow.