From Endurance to Repair: Rewriting How Water Gets Funded

Water infrastructure in the US is underfunded, undervalued, and poorly understood by the people who could change that — including impact investors. A key reason: the stories told about water set expectations of endurance, not repair. This session uses original media analysis comparing water and electricity crisis coverage to show how narrative shapes capital flows — and who pays when it doesn’t. Participants will leave with a practical framework for rewriting the water story in their own work, whether they’re deploying capital, communicating impact, or designing community engagement.