Water Will Be the Defining Business Issue of the Decade 

Water shapes how people spend their time, the choices available to them, and their ability to participate in community and economic life. For the estimated 2.1 billion people who lack access to safe water and the 3.4 billion who lack access to safe sanitation, water dictates everything. 

People living in poverty are affected first and worst by water—they lose time to collecting water, face preventable illnesses, and have fewer opportunities to work or learn. These conditions directly affect workforce stability, supply chain reliability, and the strength of the markets in regions where companies operate. 

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For businesses, water increasingly influences where growth is possible and how confidently the future can be planned. Across sectors—from agriculture and manufacturing to cloud computing and data centers—access to water underpins these systems that companies rely on to operate at scale. Yet water is not consistently factored into decisions about where businesses invest, hire, and expand. 

The businesses that will thrive in the coming decade are those that integrate water into their strategy now. 

Companies must address these issues in the communities where they operate. And firms must continually work to reduce the amount of water they use across all their operations—especially in data centers. Investing in replenishment projects is another way businesses can return water to the communities they impact and ensure longterm sustainability. 

To be sure, individual company action plays an important role, but progress that meets the scale of the water crisis requires partnership—and depends on whether solutions reach the people facing the greatest barriers to safe water. Nonprofit organizations can help make affordable financing accessible to families in need of these essential resources.

When households have access to safe water at home, the impact is immediate.  When people do not need to spend time finding, collecting, or queuing for water, they regain control of their lives. At scale, those time savings create meaningful opportunities for people in need—making space for learning, caregiving, jobs, and choices that support family and community life. 

What stands between people and safe water 

Solutions for safe water and sanitation already exist, and they are working. What’s missing is sustained funding at the scale required to reach everyone with access to these essential resources. Universal access to safely managed water and sanitation will require an estimated $114 billion annually, yet current investment falls short by roughly $85 billion each year. As a result, funding often stops short of the household level, leaving people living in poverty without affordable ways to pay for water and sanitation at home.

The implications extend far beyond water systems themselves. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that inadequate access to safe water and sanitation contributes to roughly $260 billion in annual economic losses, driven by preventable illness, and missed days of work and school. At the same time, the return on investment is clear: research suggests that every $1 invested in water and sanitation yields about $4 in economic benefits, strengthening public health and long-term growth. 

Unlike many essential services that underpin economic development, water is financed through a mix of public budgets, development finance, philanthropy, and local utilities. Each operates under different incentives, constraints, and time horizons. This complexity shapes what gets built—and too often determines whether systems are maintained, modernized, or strengthened over time. 

Those pressures are intensifying. Rising demand for water and growing environmental stress are exposing the limits of aging infrastructure. Globally, leaking water distribution systems lose an estimated 33 trillion gallons of treated water each year—driving up operating costs and the energy required to deliver water to the communities and markets that depend on it. 

Water leadership 

In many regions, access to safe water shapes the health of local workforces, supply chain resilience, and market strength. When water access is uncertain, the consequences appear first in people’s lives—through lost time, preventable illness, and limited opportunity. Over time, it surfaces within the businesses that depend on those communities for labor, supply, and growth.  

Solving the global water crisis demands coordination across sectors, capital, and public engagement. In this context, leadership means businesses using their resources, partnerships, and influence to make access to safe water a shared responsibility—one that supports the people and communities they rely on. Access to water and sanitation improves when families can afford household connections, providers can deliver service, and funding is sustained over time.  

We can respond to that need by expanding pathways for companies and consumers to participate.  In the decade ahead, modern water leadership will be public, collaborative, and results-oriented. And it must build on efforts to increase access to water and sanitation, and on the understanding that progress depends on sustained action rather than stated intention. 

Water sits at the center of opportunity in the global economy. The decisions companies make now will determine whether water becomes a barrier to growth or the foundation of resilience. The question is no longer whether water belongs in the boardroom. It is whether businesses will act while they still have the power to shape what comes next. The leaders who engage now will help create a future in which communities and markets are better positioned to thrive—together—and provide the kind of sustained progress needed to end the water crisis within our lifetimes.