On July 28, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right. Furthermore, this fundamental right is necessary to secure “full enjoyment of life and all other human rights”. As of 2014, 748 million people still lack access to an improved drinking water source and 2.5 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. Approximately two million deaths per year, 99% of which occur in developing countries, can be attributed to indoor air pollution from biomass and coal burning for fuel and cooking. There are numerous ongoing efforts in the form of nonprofit organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), university and government based research, and others to advocate for the achievement of global access to safe water, sanitation, and household energy. From 2010 to 2012, international financial aid for sanitation and drinking water increased from 8.3 billion USD to 10.9 billion USD, respectively. While international funding for water and sanitation efforts is increasing, 80% of countries report lacking the necessary funds to reach national water and sanitation target goals, and 30-40% of rural water supply systems are dysfunctional at any given time. Our ability to effectively and sustainably design, implement and monitor water treatment, sanitation, and household energy projects is limited by the lack of interaction among researchers, project implementers and community members across the fields of engineering and technical sciences, social sciences and global studies. We hypothesize that bridging the gap between researchers, implementers, and communities to more effectively assess end-user needs, create strategic implementation procedures, and establish representative-monitoring systems will result in more successful and sustainable community development projects. Furthermore, by doing so will also save money, resources, and improve quality of lives. Current graduate students and the future leaders of international development organizations must be accomplished in nurturing the interaction of persons of different disciplines and skill sets to meet water, sanitation, and household energy needs worldwide. Hence, a truly interdisciplinary approach is needed to address this global challenge to translate the commitments of safe water, sanitation ad household energy into reality.