Sadhguru Pinpoints America's Drinking Water Problems

Newsweek

10-07-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Despite being one of the richest nations on Earth, the United States is struggling to provide all its citizens with clean drinking water—a situation that Indian yogi and mystic Sadhguru calls not just an oversight, but "a crime."
"The United States of America is the place in the world which should never have any issue about drinking water," he said. "But there are issues with water because we have learned to contaminate everything."
In an interview with Newsweek, Sadhguru, who has become known for his large-scale environmental campaigns, challenged the country to rethink its approach to providing this most basic of human needs.
Earlier this year, the American Society of Civil Engineers released its Report Card for America's Infrastructure, giving drinking water a grade of C- and wastewater infrastructure a D+, grades that have not changed since 2021.
"Access to safe, clean, reliable, and affordable water is not a given for all Americans," John Griffith, incoming CEO of the water and wastewater utility company American Water, wrote for Newsweek in May.
The U.S. is 15th in Yale University's Environmental Performance Index, lagging behind the United Kingdom, Finland, Switzerland and Germany, which ranked joint first.
This is despite the fact that the U.S. ranks among the top five countries globally in terms of total renewable freshwater resources, with 9,500 cubic meters of renewable water per capita.
For comparison, India, which has a population of 1.2 billion, has just 1.5 thousand cubic meters of renewable water per capita, according to World Atlas records.
"Water quality in United United States not being good is a crime," Sadhguru said. "Because for 330 million people they have more water than most nations can ever imagine."
Sadhguru went on to blame "industrialization and the overuse of fertilization and pesticides" for the problems.
He told a story from when he embarked on a 10,000-mile motorcycle journey across the U.S. to delve into the spiritual heritage of Native American cultures and raise awareness with his Isha Foundation.
Sadhguru spoke about how when he would stop to drink water from a river or a stream we warned not to, with people telling him that "it's all poison, there is lead in it, there is mercury in it."
"Flowing water—why is it poisonous?" he asked. "Even if I put poison, it should go away, unless I am continuously putting poison into it."
Sadhguru speaking during an interview with Newsweek at the Taj Hotel in London, on July 3.
Sadhguru speaking during an interview with Newsweek at the Taj Hotel in London, on July 3.
Isha Foundation
PFAS (Forever Chemicals)
In recent years, particular attention among public health campaigners has focused on PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances) chemicals, otherwise known as "forever chemicals," which can lead to cancers, ulcerative colitis, and other serious health conditions such as hormone disruption and impaired immune systems.
Last spring, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under former President Joe Biden introduced new federal limits on six of these "forever chemicals," added to everyday products to repel oil and water.
Public water systems are expected to monitor these chemicals for three years and be fully compliant by 2029.
The American Chemistry Council and the National Association of Manufacturers have filed a court order challenging these levels, arguing that it "significantly underestimates nationwide costs, does not take into account the latest PFAS data, and will add to affordability challenges for many households."
The Biden administration put $9 billion into his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicated to address PFAS and other contaminants in drinking water but critics have questioned who will fund the treatments required to meet these new containment levels.
The American Water Works Association, a nonprofit working to improve water quality and supply, predicted in June 2024 it will cost about $40 billion (between $2.5 and $3.5 billion a year) to operate and maintain water treatment systems.
"The whole world is talking economy," Sadhguru said. "When all of us are asking our elected governments—the only thing that matters is how much money I have, naturally they will think of marketing and whatever the market forces will decide."
"We have to reframe the life value itself," he added. "What is most valuable for human beings? Now I'm saying, you being joyful, loving, ecstatic is more important."
"Over 70 percent of your body is water," Sadhguru later continued. "If you don't keep your waters happy and sweet you will not be sweet either."
Agriculture
Sadhguru went on to warn about the agriculture industry. "The fertilizer that I put in my land goes into the river water or the lake or whatever—it is contaminated seriously," he said.
"That part of it can only be handled if you have enough vegetation, that is tree-based vegetation," he added. "If you don't have enough strong vegetation it will not absorb, it will naturally go to groundwater and river water."
"Groundwater will be worse," Sadhguru said, "if river water is so contaminated, you can imagine what the well water will be."
Many environmental campaigners have long called for stricter restrictions on pesticides used in farming, but this, like many other environmental debates in America, often leads to a desire for environmental action competing with a desire to reduce regulatory burdens and promote agricultural productivity.
For example, a highly anticipated report from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Health Again (MAHA) Commission is expected to be released soon, looking at the ramifications of the American lifestyle, including the medications prescribed to people and the food served to children at school.
Some farmers and Republicans are worried about what this report might say about glyphosate, the ingredient commonly used in pesticides sprayed on crops.
"I hope there is nothing in the MAHA report that jeopardizes the food supply or the livelihood of farmers," Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley told the Senate in May, saying multiple farmers had reached out to him to voice their concerns.
The month before, a group of 79 Republicans made a similar plea to Kennedy in a letter, arguing that without glyphosate, agricultural "yields and quantity are negatively impacted."
"There's a reason why we still use it: It works," Missouri farmer Blake Hurst said at the time.
Kennedy has denied that the report will harm farming, saying: "There's not a single word in them that should worry the American farmer. We are not going to do anything to jeopardize that business model."
When asked what Sadhguru would say to Americans nervous about environmental restrictions, he said: "The thing is that with every administration the whole thinking shifts as if the facts have shifted."
"Facts have not shifted," he said, "but politics will shift according to one's needs, the narratives keep changing."
"A few facts have to be ascertained," Sadhguru continued, "which I don't think has happened in a very conclusive way. It needs to happen, though."
"It's very important a few facts are established," he said, "other opinions we can have about it—fundamental facts must be established without doubt, then people will respond to it in a more positive way."
Sadhguru went on: "Right now, I don't think that's been done in the United States, mainly because the population and land equation is very good for them. They can afford to deny a whole lot of things."
Sadhguru's Message to Americans
In the simplest terms, Sadhguru's ultimate message to Americans is to "fix vegetation, it'll fix the soil," which he says will in turn fix the quality of water.
He cited one of New York City's initiatives as an example. The city avoided building a water filtration plant, which would have lost more than $8 billion, by investing $1.5 billion into forests surrounding New York City's Catskill, Delaware, and Croton reservoirs that drain into their water supply systems.
"There is no better filtration system then the soil itself," said Sadhguru, who also runs a global organization called Save the Soil.
Guru Sadhguru speaks at an event as part of the "Save the Soil" campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne, in 2022.
Guru Sadhguru speaks at an event as part of the "Save the Soil" campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne, in 2022.
AP
"But the soil is capable of doing it only if it is organically rich," he added. "It can only be organically rich if there is a substantial amount of tree litter and animal litter."
"Organisms thrive on this organic material," he continued, "if they are there, they are doing a million functions...they are doing a million things in terms of soil chemistry which purifies the water, leaves the richer part of many, many things—minerals and bacteria, many things which are good for us."