Globally, 2.2 billion people (or 29% of the world population) did not use a safely managed drinking water service in 2015, and 844 million people still lacked a basic drinking water service. One out of every three people (2.3 billion) lacked even a basic sanitation service, and almost .9 billion still practice open defecation. WHO shows that the fecal waste of 4.2 billion people is discharged into the environment without proper treatment. About 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water that is contaminated with fecal matter. Inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene is responsible for over 800,000 deaths from diarrhea per year,

and is likely the cause of one-third to two-thirds of the global burden of undernutrition. Inadequate water supply and sanitation is estimated to be directly responsible for global economic losses of $260 billion per year. ReWASH students will rethink and re-focus solutions that can serve the more than 60 million people in the US that rely on decentralized on-site sanitation, the 8% of the US population that is served by small drinking water systems and private wells, and the billions in low and medium-income countries without access to improved water and sanitation.