USAID’s New Center for Water Security Signals Progress, But More is Needed

Jul 27, 2020 | Stephanie Cappa and Sarah Davidson
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As the COVID-19 crisis grew this spring, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) revamped its Water Office, renamed it as the Center for Water Security, Sanitation, and Hygiene, and added it to the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, home to the Feed the Future Initiative.

Placing the Center for Water Security in the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security was a strategic shift. With 70 percent of freshwater use designated for agriculture, this move elevates water as an integral component of resilience and food security. Referencing water security in the Center’s name also highlights the need for water supplies to be managed sustainably and the role that water plays in resilience and peace. 

Watershed protection and sustainable water management are increasingly urgent for agriculture and fisheries, climate change response, biodiversity, energy, and drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). In this year’s World Economic Forum Global Risks Report, water insecurity is central to the top five global risks, from extreme weather events to biodiversity loss. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed fundamental weaknesses in our food and water systems. The importance of universal access to safe water and the need to protect the sources of that water for food production, human security, and economic prosperity has never been more apparent.