In the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog, Maura O’Neill, chief innovation officer and senior counselor to the administrator at USAID, describes a partnership between the USAID Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) program and the Gates Foundation that aims “to find new approaches that could dramatically change [the world’s] water-scarce landscape” and address water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) issues. “The WASH for Life Partnership identifies and rigorously tests new WASH technologies and delivery models, then scales and replicates those that are proven successful,” she continues, noting USAID and the Gates Foundation last week announced seven new grantees under the DIV program. O’Neill describes the grantees and their projects, and she concludes, “Billions of people are in need of solutions that help them access cleaner water and result in healthier living. Together, this partnership and these seven new projects present an exciting and optimistic trend in how we approach challenges in the WASH sector and beyond” (5/23).