This 2023 MKW Summit, themed, "Indigenous Water Justice, Global Collaboration, & Dismantling Water Colonialism," is timely as Indigenous water justice, innovation, and solution-oriented approaches ramp up, the Western water paradigm is diversifying its efforts to get ahead of global warming and climate change. Consequently, Indigenous communities are caught in environmental water inequities that are perpetuated during the process of Western water expansion across research, advocacy, science, sanitation, and human rights. Water colonialism began with water theft, disrupting the world's longest standing water ethics and relationships with sacred Indigenous waters, giving rise to prominent Western and colonial water entities that hold immense wealth, power, and resources while purporting to speak for 'all people.' Today, Indigenous peoples are largely excluded from the Western water paradigm and decision-making processes.