News, Press & Perspectives

Find the latest news and press releases about our work in the water and sanitation sector below. 

Looking to interview someone from Water.org or request a speaker? Or need resources to understand our work and share information with others? Visit our Resources page.

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Water.org and Founding Partners Launch Get Blue™ to Bring Water Home™ Through Everyday Actions

June 9, 2026

Join Get Blue™, co-founded by Water.org’s Matt Damon and Gary White, and partners Gap Inc., Starbucks, Amazon, and Ecolab to shop, share, and donate to help end the global water crisis.

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The TODAY Show - Matt Damon, Gary White Talk Global Water Crisis and Solutions

June 9, 2026

Water.org co-founders Gary White and Matt Damon joined the TODAY Show to talk about Get Blue and why bringing safe water home for families around the world is within reach. "It's a massive problem but we have solutions," Damon says. Five dollars helps one person get lasting access to safe water or sanitation.

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TIME - Water Will Be the Defining Business Issue of the Decade

Jan. 23, 2026

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.

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TIME - Vedika Bhandarkar Believes We Can Solve the Water Crisis in Our Lifetime

May 1, 2025

TIME profiles Water.org President & COO Vedika Bhandarkar as part of Gold House’s A100 List, honoring the most impactful Asian Pacific leaders. Drawing on her 25-year career in finance, Vedika is helping unlock capital and scale smart solutions to accelerate access to safe water and sanitation, driving progress toward a world where everyone everywhere has the resources they need to thrive.

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NextBillion - The Keys to Successful Blue Bonds: How Peru’s Strong Local Lending Systems Are Expanding Water and Sanitation Access

May 26, 2026

For millions of families safe water solutions exist and are within reach — what's missing is affordable financing to pay for them. Water.org's Rocio Cavazos explains how two blue bond issuances are closing that gap for people in need in Peru, and what it took to build the lending systems that made them possible.

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A cyclist and a horse-cart carriage pass each other in a flooded area after heavy rain caused a river overflow, submerging scores of homes in Bandung, Indonesia on March 16, 2025. Timur Matahari—AFP/Getty Images
TIME - The Key to Solving the Global Water Crisis

March 22, 2025

The global water crisis is one of the most urgent and complex challenges facing humanity today. More than 2.2 billion people lack access to safe water, and 3.5 billion lack access to safely managed sanitation. This crisis undermines health and safety, education, and economic opportunity.

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Innovation in Water and Sanitation Financing Funds more than 190,000 Loans in Indonesia

Oct. 9, 2019

Through loans distributed by Water.org's financial institution partners in Indonesia, more than 750,000 people now have access to water and sanitation.

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Reuters - Aquanomics: Water, Wall Street & Climate Change

Oct. 3, 2019

CEO & Co-founder Gary White speaks on a panel discussing entrepreneurial and innovative ways to connect people living in poverty with commercial capital markets to break down the barrier of access to affordable financing for water and sanitation.

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KC-based Water.org fills need with focus on poverty as a market to be served

Sept. 26, 2019

“The poor should not necessarily be seen as a problem to be solved but a market to be served,” Gary White told a recent crowd at the University of Missouri, highlighting the importance of microfinancing and smart solutions in the global water crisis.

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CNBC - Anheuser-Busch InBev and Water.org team up in water partnership

Sept. 25, 2019

Gary White, Water.org CEO & Co-founder, and Carlos Brito, Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO, join CNBC's ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss their partnership and how they’re helping people around the world get access to safe water.

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Giving Compass - Safe Water And Sanitation: Finding Success And Scaling Solutions

Sept. 23, 2019

Water.org President Jennifer Schorsch shares our definition of success and how Water.org is empowering people to solve their own water crisis.

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Inditex - Zara's Care for Water Campaign

Sept. 17, 2019

Zara's parent company, Inditex, will earmark more than $420,000 over the next three years to facilitate the provision of small, affordable loans to 4,000 organic cotton farmers in India.

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Stockholm World Water Week - Collaboration with the IFC

Sept. 6, 2019

Vedika Bhandarkar, Managing Director of India, shares about the launch of a new initiative with the International Finance Corporation to scale our financial solutions for water and sanitation.

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Stockholm World Water Week - Partnering with water utilities

Sept. 6, 2019

Water.org staff from Indonesia share about collaborating with water utilities in the region to help reach more people with safe water and sanitation.

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SEB - Financial market essential for solving water crisis

Aug. 29, 2019

In connection with World Water Week in Stockholm, SEB and Water.org hosted a reception to highlight the connection between water and finance.

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Skoll - Tapping Small Loans for Toilets and Safe Water Unleashes Women’s Potential

Aug. 21, 2019

Women who lack access to life’s basics know exactly what they need. And they’re getting it.

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The Weather Channel - The Global Water Crisis and Water.org Solutions

June 5, 2019

The Weather Channel interviews Water.org's Vedika Bhandarkar on World Environment Day about what Water.org is doing to solve the global water crisis.

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Brunswick - Matt Damon and Gary White Turn On a Life-Saving Faucet

June 4, 2019

We believe the way to bring clean water and sanitation to the poor of the world at scale isn’t by drilling wells or installing toilets. Nor is it through charity alone. The solution is market-based financing.

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