The US Water Alliance strives to ensure each class of winners is diverse, considering geography, sector, and size. US Water Prize applications in the Public Sector category will be reviewed based on the following criteria: 

• Integration: Works in an integrated manner across sectors and disciplines. Focuses on achieving multiple benefits—economic, social, environmental—through water management. Demonstrates progress in moving toward watershed scale approaches. 
• Partnership Focus: Demonstrates collaboration across sectors and between stakeholders to advance sustainable solutions. 
• Innovation: Involves technologies, management practices, creative thinking, regulatory strategies, and/or financing strategies that are changing the water paradigm. 
• Education: Provides motivation and insight to help people view, value, and manage water more holistically and sustainably. The educational component can be informal or formal. 
• Results: Exhibits clear, measurable impact that is leading to a more sustainable approach to water resource management in America.