Pro Vida Water

[Paulette Dzurilla]

Morethan 1 million Texans do not have reliable access to clean, affordable drinking water. The problem is widespread across all geographies and income levels, including: those dependent on public water supplies with lead-tainted water; those reliant on private groundwater wells that are unmonitored and unregulated for water quality; and those in underserved communities along the southern border and across the state who have no water infrastructure at all. In the Rio Grande Valley alone, the state estimates that more than 100,000 people lack basic water services.

Vida Water aims to close this water gap by deploying and maintaining onsite water treatment technologies for households and schools using a subscription payment system designed to beat what the lowest income Texans pay today for bottled water. The point of use treatment systems it will deploy and maintain are already being used by millions of Americans today.

Vida Water is led by CEO Jim Drees, a longtime Texas resident with extensive corporate and philanthropic experience including time leading product and market launches at Ford Motor Company, Dresser and General Electric.

Vida Water was one of five projects selected in 2021 as part of the Lone Star Prize competition, a joint effort of Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Lever for Change to find and fund bold solutions focused on building healthier, stronger communities in Texas.

About Texas Water Trade

Texas Water Trade is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 2018. Its mission is to catalyze sustainable water transactions in Texas to ensure clean, flowing water for people and nature.

About Vida Water

Vida Water is a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Water Trade and was incorporated in 2021 in Texas as a Public Benefit Corporation. Its vision is to provide reliable, safe drinking water solutions to Texans no matter their income or zip code.

About Cummins Inc.

Cummins Inc. is a global technology company designing, manufacturing, distributing and servicing a broad portfolio of reliable, clean power solutions; including diesel, natural gas, hybrid, electric and other alternative solutions. Established in 1919 and headquartered in Columbus, Indiana (U.S.), Cummins serves customers in more than 190 countries and territories around the world. More information can be found at cummins.com.

We accelerate value chain transformation across key sectors and reshape the financial system to reward sustainable leadership and action through a lower cost of capital. Through the exchange of best practices, improving performance, accessing education, forming partnerships, and shaping the policy agenda, we drive progress in businesses and sharpen the accountability of their performance. www.wbcsd.org

Sharlene founded Texas Water Trade in 2018, bringing a decade of experience in sustainable water finance long-range water planning and water transactions. Previously, she directed the Texas Environmental Flows Initiative, a collaboration of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, the Harte Research Institute, The Nature Conservancy and several other groups, to purchase water for the bays and estuaries of the Texas Gulf Coast. She also chaired the Austin Water Forward Task Force, which developed a groundbreaking 100-year water plan approved unanimously by the Austin City Council in 2018.

Sharlene is a Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Entrepreneur and holds a BA in Physics and English from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was a fellow in the MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative. She serves as President and Interim CEO of Vida Water PBC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Water Trade, which aims to provide clean and affordable drinking water for underserved populations in Texas.

Since 2013, Don has served as the Executive Director of the Harte Charitable Foundation, developing their investments in the stewardship of and sustainable development of the Gulf of Mexico. The Harte Charitable Foundation provided catalytic financial support for the launch of Texas Water Trade. Don has led the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) from start-up to internationally-recognized climate change research and adaptation organization. Along the way, Don has spun off a non-profit real estate holding company, a limited liability company real estate holding company, two limited liability start-up companies, and is now raising a Blue Economy impact investment fund.

Priti leads the Global Strategy & Operations function at Bumble where she is responsible for setting the multi-brand investment strategy across audience, channel, and geographic investments. She works with the Bumble executive leadership team to identify and launch international and category expansion opportunities. Prior to that role, Priti created the Marketing Analytics team, powering Bumble with data and insights to fuel growth for existing and new markets, bringing science to the art of business strategy, and using creative insights from data and market research to ensure sustainable growth.

She has been featured in the Austin Business Journal, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Fast Company, NYTimes, Vogue India, Business Insider and Exhibit on behalf of Bumble. Prior to her roles at Bumble, she spent the better part of a decade working in management consulting at McKinsey & Company, where she helped answer strategic marketing and growth questions for consumer-focused companies. Priti earned her undergraduate degree at UT Austin and her MBA at Wharton.

She is a veteran of the White House, U.S. Department of Education, and Capitol Hill, where she developed her expertise in education policy. She served on the White House Domestic Policy Council staff and then as Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that, she worked for two United States Senators on domestic policy issues. She has also consulted on education and workforce issues with major foundations, companies, non-profits, and policymakers.

Holly also served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, a Pahara Institute Fellow, and an Aspen Global Leadership Network member. She serves on the boards of the Gates Policy Initiative, the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, and the Dallas Assembly, and is an alumnus of the Texas Lyceum. She is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Jim Drees, a longtime Texas resident with extensive corporate and philanthropic experience, was selected from among dozens of candidates following an eight-month national search. A mechanical engineer who worked previously at Ford Motor Company and General Electric, Drees started his new position on September 6.

Drees spent nearly three decades working with the water and wastewater sectors before pivoting his career in 2016 to nonprofit organizations. He also led a decade-long sister church partnership to bring water and electricity to a civil war resettlement community in El Salvador.

The Vida Water project was one of five projects selected last year as part of the Lone Star Prize competition, a joint effort of Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Lever for Change to find and fund bold solutions focused on building healthier, stronger communities in Texas. Texas Water Trade received a $500,000 startup grant for the project and is positioned to receive more support if key performance indicators are met.

Millions of Texans do not have reliable access to clean, affordable drinking water. The problem is widespread across all geographies and income levels, including: those dependent on public water supplies with lead-tainted water; those reliant on private groundwater wells that are unmonitored and unregulated for water quality; and those in underserved communities along the southern border and across the state who have no water infrastructure at all.

Vida Water aims to close this water gap by deploying and maintaining onsite water treatment technologies for households and schools using a subscription payment system designed to beat what the lowest income Texans pay today for bottled water. The carbon filtration and reverse osmosis treatment systems it will deploy and maintain are already being used by millions of Americans today.

Over the past few months, Texas Water Trade, the University of Texas at El Paso and Penn State have been surveying hundreds of Texas households to understand their spending patterns for drinking water and their willingness to pay for a subscription-based water service. The surveys are being conducted among low-income households in El Paso County, the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Dallas and Houston.

Vida Water is a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Water Trade and was incorporated in 2021 in Texas as a Public Benefit Corporation. Its vision is to provide reliable, safe drinking water solutions to Texans no matter their income or zip code.

At PureVida, we pride ourselves on providing a sustainable workplace solution to the very thing that gives life: Water. Water in the office should be clean, refreshing, and great-tasting. But it should also be convenient and boost the life in your office. PureVida offers this with the best bottleless water coolers on the market, and we follow up with our commitment to providing you excellent customer service!

In the same way that water can shape landforms, the USFWS has been laying the groundwork for increasing coastal access and fostering a caring relationship with our waterways and all the lifeforms it sustains. For the past 15 years, the USFWS has partnered with Ocean Connectors, a local non-profit, to enhance the ecological community along San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge (SDBNWR). This tremendous undertaking started back in 2007 and has made significant progress at the Habitat Heroes restoration site in Imperial Beach.

The USFWS also recognizes there has been a long and complicated relationship between underserved communities and access to the coast. Historically, there are many challenges coastal communities have faced in San Diego which come in the form of transportation barriers, private property owners, and restricted hours, to name a few. Despite these adversities, the USFWS has strived to encourage visitors along San Diego Bay as well as the rest of our refuges. This partnership also supports recreational user groups by providing secure access so everyone can enjoy our valuable coastal resources, all the while providing wildlife with the space and respect it deserves.

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