DigDeep Announces the Creation of ‘DigDeep Labs’ to Accelerate Research and Innovation Efforts around US Water Access

DigDeep Labs bolsters the nonprofit's relentless pursuit to ensure universal water access in the United States.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, May 31, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, human rights nonprofit DigDeep announces the creation of DigDeep Labs, a new division that will house the organization’s existing and future research and innovation initiatives to advance its mission of ensuring that every person living in the United States is granted their human right to clean running water and proper sanitation.

Since 2012, DigDeep has been working to increase water access in American communities and to drive awareness around the millions of American residents living without clean and reliable running water at home. DigDeep Labs is a space where the nonprofit can grow its evidence base, share its learnings, and continue to collaborate with other innovators in the domestic Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector.

DigDeep Labs will become home to the nonprofit’s existing research and data work, including two previously published and well-cited national reports on water access in the United States. In November 2019, DigDeep and the US Water Alliance co-authored “Closing the Water Access Gap in the United States: A National Action Plan,” which revealed over 2 million people in America live without a tap or toilet at home, and race is the primary predictor of water access. In June 2022, DigDeep released a follow-up study, “Draining: The Economic Impact of America’s Hidden Water Crisis,” which showed this crisis costs the US economy $8.6 billion per year. This year, DigDeep plans to release another co-authored report revealing the impacts of climate change on domestic water access.

In addition to data tracking and research, DigDeep Labs will also incubate the nonprofit’s innovation cohorts, which bring together NGOs to foster collaboration and drive solutions around complex and diverse domestic WASH challenges. In 2021, DigDeep established the Decentralized Wastewater Innovation Cohort to advance solutions for the safe and effective wastewater disposal that is essential to human and environmental health. Their recommendations were presented to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in March 2022. By August, the cohort saw these policy recommendations put to work in a first-of-its-kind pilot program from the EPA and USDA designed to help 11 rural and underserved communities access the financing and technical assistance that is available to improve wastewater infrastructure. In early 2023, DigDeep established the Water Access Innovation Cohort with the goal of replicating this success around water systems not served by centralized piped networks.

DigDeep has tapped Kimberly Lemme to serve as Executive Director of DigDeep Labs. Lemme brings to the role 15 years of experience working to solve water scarcity in the US and around the world. Prior to joining DigDeep, Lemme served as a Director at Water For People, where she developed programs for long-term water access, built measurement and reporting tools to accurately track sustainability of water projects, and led global ​​external strategy and partnerships.

“We cannot effectively solve what we do not measure and learn from,” says Kimberly Lemme, Executive Director of DigDeep Labs. “I'm excited to lead DigDeep in bridging the gap between data, real-world insights, and experimentation. A clearer picture of water access in the United States is crucial to improve service provision, inform policymaking, and accelerate progress for all of us.”

To learn more about DigDeep Labs, please visit www.digdeep.org/our-work.

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About DigDeep: DigDeep is a human rights nonprofit working to ensure every American has access to clean running water and sanitation. Its community-led and region-specific solutions have helped install clean running water inside hundreds of homes through its award-winning Navajo Water Project (Arizona, New Mexico and Utah); Appalachia Water Project (West Virginia); and Colonias Water Project (Texas). DigDeep is leading the U.S. WaSH sector in research, workforce development and advocacy that informs public policy. It has authored two groundbreaking reports, “Closing the Water Access Gap in the United States: A National Action Plan” and “Draining: The Economic Impact of America’s Hidden Water Crisis,” which revealed over 2.2 million Americans live without a toilet or tap at home, costing the US economy a staggering $8.6 billion each year.

For more information, please visit digdeep.org and follow on Twitter (@DigDeepH2O), Facebook and Instagram (@DigDeepWater).

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