100 water-stressed basins with positive water impact
3 billion people impacted
300 million lives changed with safe water or sanitation
Unite for Water Resilience Where It Matters Most
Across the globe, rivers are running dry, aquifers are shrinking, and many communities still lack reliable access to WASH services (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene). These challenges aren’t confined to one region or border — they ripple across economies, societies, and ecosystems. To address them, the CEO Water Mandate has designated the Water Resilience Coalition (WRC) as its leadership initiative for collective action.
In consultation with partners, the WRC has identified the 100 Priority Basins where water stress, business risk, and social need intersect and where collective action is most urgent and impactful.
No single company, government, or community can solve these crises alone. But together, we can change the narrative. Whether you operate in these basins today or may in the future, your voice and participation are critical. Together, we can mobilize a global community of businesses, governments, and civil society to strengthen water security in these vulnerable regions.
Why the 100 Priority Basins?
The 100 Priority Basins are more than points on a map and each basin has its own story. These basins support communities with an already limited access to clean WASH services, local economies, and farms facing supply chain disruptions. Each priority basin represents an area of:
- High water risk where scarcity or pollution threatens both communities and economies.
- Shared responsibility where no stakeholder can make a difference alone, but where collaboration has extraordinary potential.
- Opportunities for resilience where solutions exist and can be scaled for positive impact.
These basins are not static; they evolve as conditions shift. Much like the world we live in, they are living systems, and they require living solutions.
The Movement Is Growing
The world’s water challenges are urgent. But they are also solvable—if we act together, and if we act now. Dozens of companies, NGOs, and governments are already stepping up. Together, they form a global network committed to water security by 2030.
Now, it’s your turn. Step Up in Priority Basins to Impact the Most Lives
Get Involved in a Collaborative!
A Basin Collaborative, also referred to as a “collective action platform, is a governance platform and coordination structure that drives systemic change and accountability across a priority basin. It leverages existing local initiatives and resources within a basin to organize, recruit, and align donors and grow solutions in support of collective positive water impact across the entire basin.
The Rio Bravo/Grande is a transboundary basin originating in the USA and flowing through the Mexico state of Nuevo León, supporting more than 12 million people and serving as a critical lifeline for communities, agriculture, and industry on both sides of the border. This basin faces significant challenges, with water supply shortages among the most striking.
Manos al Agua por el Río Bravo is a private sector–led collaborative uniting companies, NGOs, and basin partners to strengthen water security and resilience across the Bravo. Early activities are underway on the Mexico side of the basin, with plans to integrate the U.S. Grande portion into shared strategies and goals. The initiative aims to mobilize coordinated action, investment, and data-driven solutions that reduce water risk, restore ecological function, and build long-term resilience for communities on both sides of the border.
The Mississippi River Basin spans five major sub-basins and 40 percent of the continental United States. It faces interconnected challenges including polluted runoff, groundwater depletion, climate-driven floods and droughts, and uneven access to clean drinking water.
The Mississippi River Water Action Collaborative (MRWAC) brings together companies, municipalities, utilities, NGOs, and research institutions to accelerate collective action on the basin’s most urgent issues. By 2035, MRWAC aims to mobilize funding and partnerships for water stewardship projects that address 20 percent of the basin’s highest-priority water challenges across 24 million acres.
The Godavari River Basin is one of India’s largest and most complex river systems, spanning six states and supporting over 70 million people. With particular focus in Maharashtra, The Godavari Initiative (TGI) represents the first phase of a full-basin vision to address the urgent water challenges facing the region. The initiative coordinates a multi-stakeholder collaborative platform for corporates, government, and civil society to advance collective action through coordinated investment in water security projects and nature-based solutions, with monitoring designed to reflect basin-level impact. TGI also supports capacity building, research and innovation, benefit sharing, and practical learning.
In its first phase, TGI is implementing a management structure, work plan, governance mechanism, and project portfolio specifically for the Upper Godavari. Insights and outcomes from TGI will inform the eventual scaling of activities across the entire basin.
How to Get Involved
Explore the 100 Basins
Register your organization on the Water Action Hub and explore opportunities where water risk, business continuity, and community needs intersect.
Input your Basins of Interest
Map your basins of interest to notify the CEO Water Mandate where you’d like to engage. By mapping your footprint, you’ll discover where partnerships can create the greatest impact.
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Choose your Pathway
Explore different initiatives and collaborative models to leverage your company’s resources and drive measurable impact. Please contact ceowatermandate@unglobalcompact.org with any questions
