More than 2 million people in the United States live without running water or a working toilet—and the true number could be far higher. It’s a crisis hidden in plain sight, affecting communities from tribal lands and rural Appalachia to border colonias and even neighborhoods just beyond city infrastructure.

In this episode, Kabir Thatte of the Vessel Collective announces a new national roadmap aimed at closing that gap.

Thatte outlines the scale of the issue—families hauling water, unreliable or unaffordable service for tens of millions more, and billions in economic losses tied to inaction. He also explains why the gap has persisted: limited public awareness, fragmented government investment, and a lack of coordinated support for communities trying to build and maintain water systems.

Thatte says the roadmap sets a clear target: universal access to water and sanitation in the U.S. by 2040. It organizes more than 50 strategies into three pillars—visibility, government commitment, and capacity—focused on building public awareness, aligning federal and state action, expanding funding, and strengthening workforce and technical support.

The roadmap is being released as the Vessel Collective convenes water organizations in Washington, D.C., aiming to energize the sector and urge decision makers to accelerate action on water for all.

The conversation also details how progress will be tracked, from near-term coordination and policy movement to long-term systems change, with a central question guiding the effort: are fewer Americans living without water each year?

Read the roadmap

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability.

Nanobubbles—microscopic pockets of gas invisible to the human eye—are emerging as a powerful tool to improve water treatment and management.

In this episode of How Water Works, Travis Loop visits Moleaer Inc. in Los Angeles to break down how nanobubbles work and why they’re gaining traction across industries.

Thousands of times smaller than a grain of salt, nanobubbles don’t rise and burst like ordinary bubbles—they remain suspended for months, increasing dissolved oxygen and enhancing biological activity in water.

Inside the lab, experiments show how these charged particles scatter light, stabilize gases, and attract contaminants—helping water become clearer and cleaner.

The impact is already showing up in the field.

➡️ Through collaborations with Xylem, U.S. wastewater utilities are reducing ammonia and cutting aeration energy.

➡️ In South America, greenhouses are lowering chemical use while increasing yields.

➡️ Nordic aquaculture operations are improving fish survival.

➡️ In California\'s Lake Elsinore, the technology has helped control harmful algal blooms, reopening the lake for recreation and driving renewed economic activity.

Still early in its adoption, nanobubble technology is moving quickly from experimentation to real-world deployment—offering a lower-energy, lower-chemical approach to treating and managing water.

Watch the episode on YouTube

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability.

A group of top water experts is challenging one of the core assumptions behind U.S. drinking water policy—that chasing ever-smaller traces of contaminants is the best way to protect public health—and instead calling for a fundamental shift toward fixing pipes, strengthening systems, and prioritizing the risks that actually matter most.

In this episode, members of the Water Health Advisory Council lay out a bold path forward through their new book Safe Drinking Water Act: The Next Fifty Years.

The group—bringing decades of experience across policy, science, and utility leadership—argues the next era must shift from a “regulatory treadmill” to prioritizing real-world risks like failing pipes, workforce gaps, and system resilience. Their Madison Declaration calls for science-based risk prioritization, stronger governance, and treating safe water as a human right, with equity at the center of decision-making.

The conversation highlights how public trust is eroding—not because water is less safe, but because communication tools like consumer confidence reports often confuse rather than inform.

It also makes the case for major structural changes, including utility consolidation to improve performance, smarter investment in infrastructure over ever-lower contaminant thresholds, and aligning funding with actual public health outcomes.

At its core, the message is clear: the next 50 years of drinking water policy won’t be solved by chemistry alone—it will require rethinking how systems are governed, funded, and trusted by the public.

Learn more about the book.

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability.