More than 770 million people around the world are living without access to clean water—including in communities throughout the United States. The challenges this creates to public health, economic opportunity, education, and gender equality are astounding, and the crisis of water inequity is only growing more urgent due to the effects of climate change.
In this episode, President Clinton is joined by an unlikely pair who are working together to bring access to life’s most fundamental resource a reality for everyone across the globe—actor and Academy Award winner Matt Damon, and water and sanitation engineer Gary White. After meeting at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting more than a decade ago, they partnered to found the organization Water.org, and later WaterEquity, and have now brought clean water to more than 40 million people in 11 countries. In their conversation with President Clinton, they discuss their new book The Worth of Water, explain the urgency of the water crisis and why they’re both so passionate about it, and outline a roadmap to how solving this problem is possible within our lifetimes.