💧 H2O INTRO 👤 Meet Sara Hughes, Senior Policy Researcher at RAND and Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy.
More than 2 million Americans still live without running water or a working toilet at home. Researchers have spent years documenting where these gaps exist, what makes water unaffordable, and why infrastructure investment falls short. But understanding the problem is only part of the solution.
That's where Sara's work at RAND comes in. Through independent, nonpartisan research, she helps provide the data, evidence, and policy analysis that organizations and decision-makers need to understand water challenges, evaluate solutions, and build the capacity to act.
Now she's encouraged by the Vessel Collective's National Roadmap to Close the U.S. Water Gap, which aims to achieve universal water and sanitation access by 2040. What stands out to her is its national focus, attention to federal policy, and emphasis on mobilizing the investment needed to make progress.
For Sara, that's an important shift. The water sector has spent considerable time defining the problem and documenting its scale. The next challenge is turning that knowledge into funding, infrastructure improvements, and implementation.
It's a perspective that connects research with action: better evidence can inform better policies, but progress ultimately depends on putting resources behind the solutions.
Recorded at the U.S. WASH Convening organized by the Vessel Collective in Washington, D.C.
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