RESEARCH

Decentralized Wastewater Innovation Cohort

How do we get toilets to everyone, no matter where they live?

Everyone deserves a working toilet, but in some places that’s easier said than done. That’s why DigDeep created the Decentralized Wastewater Innovation (DWI) Cohort, a community-driven effort to improve understanding of the wastewater challenges remote communities face across the US, the solutions being developed, and the ways policymakers can improve the impact, sustainability, and scalability of those innovations. The DWIC creates meaningful connections between rural communities piloting innovative solutions to tough wastewater challenges—from Alaska to New York—through facilitated working groups, site exchanges, and even trips to Washington DC to meet with regulators.

Decentralized systems make up approximately 25% of all wastewater systems nationwide, but for decades these systems have lacked visibility, adequate funding, consistent regulation, and incentives for innovation. The DWI Cohort develops actionable policy recommendations to accelerate effective decentralized wastewater solutions and close the Water Gap for the 2.2M+ Americans without access to basic plumbing identified in DigDeep’s groundbreaking report, Closing the Water Gap in the United States: An Action Plan.

Developed through community partnerships across the country, DWIC identified four key policy opportunities for federal agency consideration.

In March 2022, the DigDeep, USEPA, and USDA hosted a virtual roundtable where the DWIC elevated community experiences with decentralized wastewater and recommended opportunities to federal agencies working to close the water and sanitation gap.

The Cohort seeks to understand the current and future funding landscape within the decentralized wastewater space (including federal, state and local funding sources and pending legislation supporting decentralized wastewater) and to help agencies ensure that those funds make it to the communities who need them most.

The Cohort seeks to provide a voice to overlooked frontline communities who rely exclusively on decentralized systems to handle their wastewater, by soliciting support from local, state, and federal lawmakers and promoting policy that’s responsive to real and pressing needs.

The Cohort seeks to promote the development and regulation of alternative wastewater technologies that are more affordable, non-proprietary, fundable, and robust enough to serve the wide range of contexts within the decentralized wastewater space.

The Cohort seeks to increase the visibility of the decentralized wastewater sector and the communities it serves through strategic messaging that lifts the veil on a relatively unknown human rights issue that must be urgently addressed by policymakers and the public.