Desalination plants in the Middle East have been bombed in the ongoing war with Iran and municipal water systems in the United States are being hacked. And communities are mobilizing to block water-hungry datacenters, concerned that their water resources will be drained away. Yet our politicians continue to prevaricate, refusing to take actions to protect water resources; or worse, rolling back earlier efforts. In poll after poll, concern for water resources – both quantity and quality – consistently ranks at the top, above all other environmental challenges. Violence over shared water resources can be lessened by international agreements and diplomacy over shared watersheds – which is the focus of a major Finnish water diplomacy initiative.