Episodes

California's water future could be shaped by a $20 billion gamble with the controversial Delta Tunnel. This episode dives deep into the high-stakes project with Camille von Kaenel, California Environment Reporter for Politico...

Decades of overpumping groundwater around Houston caused the land to sink by as much as 15 feet, forcing neighborhoods to flood and entire communities to relocate. This episode explores how land subsidence developed, and how ...

The hard-fought plan to restore salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest has been abruptly derailed, threatening one of the most significant tribal and environmental agreements in decades. In this episode of In The Newsroom, Tony...

Billions of dollars are finally flowing into the water industry, but the financial landscape is still far behind energy, climate tech, and other booming sectors. In this episode of In The Newsroom, Travis Loop is joined by An...

Turning lawns into water savings, rewriting city codes, and protecting forests upstream—these are just some of the ways communities are reimagining their water systems with help from the WaterNow Alliance. In this conversatio...

What does a 21st-century water-powered economy look like? In this conversation, Brett Walton of Circle of Blue discusses their new reporting series on the blue economy in the Great Lakes region—where water is being used to dr...

EPA is moving forward with PFAS drinking water limits but delaying compliance deadlines and withdrawing a controversial hazard index. At the same time, the Trump White House has proposed about a 90% cut to the State Revolving...

A legacy of pollution and neglect once left the James River and surrounding waterways in ecological crisis. But decades of federal protections and grassroots advocacy have shown that nature can heal—if given the chance. In th...

Stormwater management solutions that are effective, space-conscious, and sustainable are increasingly important for cities. One increasingly popular solution is deep infiltration, a practice that moves stormwater into native ...

As a new administration and Congress settle into Washington, questions loom about how federal water policy will take shape amid broader political turbulence. Fortunately, water remains a rare bipartisan issue, providing a pat...

Desalination is a proven technology—but it’s still too costly, energy-intensive, and inaccessible for the communities that need it most. To change that, XPRIZE launched a $119 million global competition to drive breakthroughs...

A 2,600-year-old bald cypress tree stands quietly in North Carolina’s Three Sisters Swamp—older than the Roman Empire, untouched by time, and protected by a resurgent tribal community. In this powerful episode, Travis Loop jo...

Radhika Fox has spent her career at the intersection of people, policy, and infrastructure. In a conversation from the Reservoir Center in Washington, D.C., the former head of EPA's Office of Water shares how she helped lead ...

Islam offers powerful guidance for enviromental stewardship - and Huda Alkaff has spent 20 years bringing those teachings to life. As Founder of Wisconsin Green Muslims, Huda blends faith, ecology, and community action to adv...

Mayor Marcus Muhammad of Benton Harbor and Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard of Mount Vernon share how federal investments have made a real difference in rebuilding water systems, protecting public health, and boosting local economies.

Nutrient runoff from tile drainage systems on Iowa farms is a significant challenge, affecting local waterways and the Mississippi River. Tile drain water recycling offers an innovative solution by capturing nutrient-rich dra...

Texas' iconic springs are facing growing pressure from urban development, groundwater pumping, and climate change, threatening the lifeline of both ecosystems and communities. But through sustainable aquifer management, conse...

Flooding and water quality degradation are significant challenges in Iowa's agricultural watersheds, driven by intensive farming practices and increasingly extreme weather events. Relay cropping, a regenerative farming practi...

Grand Rapids is restoring the namesake rapids of the Grand River, reversing decades of human intervention that removed natural rock formations and altered the river’s flow. The city’s River For All project is removing five lo...

Agriculture in Iowa is vital to feeding the world, but it poses challenges for water quality and flood management due to nutrient runoff and extreme weather. One innovative solution is the restoration of oxbow lakes—former ri...

The presence of 200,000 lead service lines in Cook County, Illinois poses a serious public health threat, especially to young children who are highly vulnerable to the effects of lead exposure. Addressing this issue requires ...

Amid the devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires, confusion and misinformation have surrounded the role of water resources. This episode clarifies key inaccuracies, highlighting how municipal water systems are designed to su...

At the 2024 WaterSmart Innovations Conference in Las Vegas, waterloop founder Travis Loop shared key insights from his travels across the United States, documenting innovative water projects. He identified a number of commona...

Since launching in 2014, the Clean Water Partnership in Prince George’s County, Maryland has provided a blueprint on how the government and a company can work together to simultaneously tackle environmental challenges and ach...