We formed The Water Initiative (TWI) because the global water crises requires local, customized solutions. TWI co-creates customized and sustainable drinking water solutions through innovative partnerships with municipalities, businesses and local micro-entrepreneurs in developing and developed countries.

Last week I had the opportunity to lead a session on Corporate Diplomacy for the USC Center on Public Diplomacy’s Summer Institute. It is always a pleasure and humbling experience to engage with global public diplomacy practitioners and this summer’s group was no different.

I had the privilege of seeing CNN hero Doc Henley speak at the National Speakers Association Influence ’11 event on Monday...A former bartender, Doc began his first fundraiser to help provide water to the people of Darfur after reading a statistic that moved him deeply...

Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, told this water summit’s attendees that “water is a strategic necessity for Singapore” and so the country had “mobilized our machinery” in a holistic approach that includes investing in new technology and educating the public about water conservation.

SINGAPORE --- “Just turn on the faucet.”

That’s the answer most Americans and others in the developed world would give if asked how to get plenty of clean water. But for about two billion people, such a response is meaningless. These people – almost a third of the world’s population – do not have access to water that can be drunk without adverse health effects. An even greater number lack access to adequate sanitation, which is a principal reason that more than two million children die of diarrheal diseases each year.

Once upon a time, Matt Damon went for a long walk in rural Zambia. The devoted family man and method philanthropist was accompanying a 14-year-old Zambian girl who had no idea that her hiking companion was an Academy Award-winning international heartthrob.