GROWING UP IN MISSOULA, MONTANA, AND MEXICO City, respectively, we never had to worry about getting access to safe water. We simply opened the tap and voilà! We didn’t think about where that water was coming from (or if it was coming at all), how much of it was available, or what our role should be to protect it. It was simply there at our disposal. Like many others, we were disconnected from the resources upon which our lives depended. Since then, we have lived and worked in water-stressed communities around the world, from Quiché, Guatemala, to Masembeni, South Africa, to the U.S.-Mexico border. These experiences profoundly changed our relationship with water. We learned from friends and host families about how to live with less and to be resilient, smart, and efficient with the resources that were available. Most important, we learned not to take water for granted. It took experiencing scarcity and unreliability to begin to understand the true value of water and the clear connection between watershed health and social and economic well-being.
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