Water is essential to life, but in the face of climate change, our traditional approaches to water security are no longer enough. This talk explores how technology, environmental stewardship, and social engagement must work together to ensure clean drinking water for all. Discover why protecting our water sources is just as important as the treatment technology itself—and why social science is key to implementing real change. Monica Emelko is a Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Water Science, Technology & Policy at the University of Waterloo in Canada. She is a Professional Engineer and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Dr. Emelko holds chemical and environmental engineering degrees from MIT, UCLA, and the University of Waterloo and has served as a technical advisor to the U.S. National Academies of Engineering, Science, and Medicine, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as several other federal and provincial/state agencies in Canada, the United States, and globally regarding regulatory development related to water treatment, source water protection, public health policy, risk analysis, and integrated resource management. She has worked on wildfire and its implications to drinking water treatment since 2004. Her team was the first globally to describe wildfire effects on drinking water treatability. They are regularly cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for identifying these linkages and received the Canadian Council of the Federation Award of Excellence in Water Stewardship in 2014. In 2016, Dr. Emelko assisted as first responder helping with water treatment response and re-entry risk management during and after the wildfire in Fort McMurray and received a citation from the Premier for service to the province. Professor Emelko is the Scientific Director of “forWater” a Canada-wide and internationally partnered research network focused on maximizing benefit from concurrent forest management-based approaches for drinking water source protection and enhanced resilience in water treatment, operations, and risk management. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx