Water is Life: Western Water, Climate Change & Public Health

We’re partnering with western water managers, local and state agencies, water justice advocates, climate scientists, and western health sector leadership to develop a common policy and research agenda addressing the challenges of a changing climate and water quantity and quality on health in the American West.

The “separate” issues of health, water, and climate can no longer be disaggregated and addressed in silos. The professionals and activists working in their respective fields need to be aware of the powerful ways in which these issues intersect — to be on the lookout for impacts, to communicate what they see to their colleagues, and to plan collaboratively for the future.

The lack of collaborative discussion is of particular concern in the American West, where climate scientists agree that climate change is significantly altering every aspect of water—its quality, quantity, timing, phase (rain or snow), and temperature. In the West, and the rest of the nation, the longstanding divisions between water managers, social justice advocates, regulatory agencies and health officials have frustrated most attempts at collaboration even before the considerations of climate change.