Episodes

In a recent poll, U.S. voters overwhelmingly agreed that water is a human right, clean waterways are important, and infrastructure investments are critical. While those results are encouraging, the real value of polls are in how they can be used to test language, create messages, and influence policy. That work is discussed in this episode with Nicole Lampe of Water Hub, Yasmin Zaerpoor of PolicyLink, and Jenifer Collins of the National Wildlife Federation. They talk about opportunities to us...

P3 involves a public agency partnering with a private entity on a project. A twist on the traditional public-private partnership puts the community first and focuses on its challenges and opportunities. This approach works particularly well with green infrastructure, as discussed in this episode with Dominique Lueckenhoff, a former water official for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a Senior Fellow at the US Water Alliance. Dominique talks about the creation of community based P3s to...

2022 is the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which fundamentally changed regulation and management of water resources in the U.S. The Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual was created to help people understand and use the law to reduce pollution. The tool is discussed in this episode with Katherine Baer, Vice President of River Programs at the River Network, and Matt Rota, Senior Policy Director at Healthy Gulf. Katherine and Matt talk about how citizens own the Clean Water Act, using the owner...

Algae blooms that pollute waterways, produce toxins, and cause dead zones are one of the most widespread and challenging environmental problems in the U.S. Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural land is the leading fuel for the algae blooms, but efforts to reduce the nutrient pollution from farms have largely been unsuccessful. In this episode, Dr. Donald Boesch, President Emeritus of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, says it’s time to change the approach and cre...

Algae blooms that pollute waterways, produce toxins, and cause dead zones are one of the most widespread and challenging environmental problems in the U.S. Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural land is the leading fuel for the algae blooms, but efforts to reduce the nutrient pollution from farms have largely been unsuccessful. In this episode, Dr. Donald Boesch, President Emeritus of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, says it’s time to change the approach and creat...

Algae blooms that pollute waterways, produce toxins, and cause dead zones are one of the most widespread and challenging environmental problems in the U.S. Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural land is the leading fuel for the algae blooms, but efforts to reduce the nutrient pollution from farms have largely been unsuccessful. In this episode, Dr. Donald Boesch, President Emeritus of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, says it’s time to change the approach and creat...

Problems of environmental justice and water equity haven’t historically received proper coverage by traditional media. And if they did get in the news, chances are the reporter didn’t look like the impacted population.

Problems of environmental justice and water equity haven’t historically received proper coverage by traditional media. And if they did get in the news, chances are the reporter didn’t look like the impacted population. That’s changing in Baltimore and around the Chesapeake Bay, where a nonprofit is helping young people in communities of color to tell their stories. The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative is discussed in this episode with its Co-Founders, Donzell Brown and Rona Kobell. T...

Problems of environmental justice and water equity haven’t historically received proper coverage by traditional media. And if they did get in the news, chances are the reporter didn’t look like the impacted population. That’s changing in Baltimore and around the Chesapeake Bay, where a nonprofit is helping young people in communities of color to tell their stories. The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative is discussed in this episode with its Co-Founders, Donzell Brown and Rona Kobell. T...

Despite the direct and often disproportionate impacts of water problems on Latinos in California, there was historically a lack of water knowledge and advocacy by the leaders in their communities. That led to the creation of an organization to educate ...

Despite the direct and often disproportionate impacts of water problems on Latinos in California, there was historically a lack of water knowledge and advocacy by the leaders in their communities. That led to the creation of an organization to educate and motivate Latino local elected officials across the state. This level of government is the closest to the people and the solutions, as discussed in this episode with Victor Griego, President and Founder of Water Education For Latino Leaders. Vi...

Despite the direct and often disproportionate impacts of water problems on Latinos in California, there was historically a lack of water knowledge and advocacy by the leaders in their communities. That led to the creation of an organization to educate and motivate Latino local elected officials across the state. This level of government is the closest to the people and the solutions, as discussed in this episode with Victor Griego, President and Founder of Water Education For Latino Leaders. Vi...

Thousands of water utilities across the U.S. are smaller and under-resourced, often leaving them consumed by daily operations and unable to take on projects to increase efficiency and reduce costs. But external experts can help these utilities to triag...

Thousands of water utilities across the U.S. are smaller and under-resourced, often leaving them consumed by daily operations and unable to take on projects to increase efficiency and reduce costs. But external experts can help these utilities to triage pressing challenges and then turn to strategic improvements, as discussed in this episode with George Hawkins, CEO and Founder of Moonshot Missions. George talks about bringing his experience, including as the head of DC Water, and building a te...

Thousands of water utilities across the U.S. are smaller and under-resourced, often leaving them consumed by daily operations and unable to take on projects to increase efficiency and reduce costs. But external experts can help these utilities to triage pressing challenges and then turn to strategic improvements, as discussed in this episode with George Hawkins, CEO and Founder of Moonshot Missions. George talks about bringing his experience, including as the head of DC Water, and building a te...

Traveling presents the opportunity to make observations about many aspects of the world including about water. In this episode, waterloop host Travis Loop discusses his summer trip to Germany and a variety of ways that water caught his attention in cit...

Traveling presents the opportunity to make observations about many aspects of the world including about water. In this episode, waterloop host Travis Loop discusses his summer trip to Germany and a variety of ways that water caught his attention in cities such as Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich. Topics include public refill stations, bottled water in restaurants, the presence of green roofs, and river surfing. waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full s...

Traveling presents the opportunity to make observations about many aspects of the world including about water. In this episode, waterloop host Travis Loop discusses his summer trip to Germany and a variety of ways that water caught his attention in cities such as Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich. Topics include public refill stations, bottled water in restaurants, the presence of green roofs, and river surfing. waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full s...

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool in the fight to find lead water lines in the U.S., which could number up to 10 million and pose a threat to human health. The use of AI allows for much more accurate predictions of the location of ...

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool in the fight to find lead water lines in the U.S., which could number up to 10 million and pose a threat to human health. The use of AI allows for much more accurate predictions of the location of lead lines by using a variety of factors such as the age of a house, size of the property, and prevalence in the area. This approach has helped cities like Newark, Detroit, and Toledo to dramatically reduce the time and cost of finding and replaci...

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool in the fight to find lead water lines in the U.S., which could number up to 10 million and pose a threat to human health. The use of AI allows for much more accurate predictions of the location of lead lines by using a variety of factors such as the age of a house, size of the property, and prevalence in the area. This approach has helped cities like Newark, Detroit, and Toledo to dramatically reduce the time and cost of finding and replaci...

Many of the one million people in California who lack access to safe and reliable drinking water are Latino agricultural workers living in small communities throughout the state’s Central Valley. Despite agriculture’s reliance on them as a workforce,

Many of the one million people in California who lack access to safe and reliable drinking water are Latino agricultural workers living in small communities throughout the state’s Central Valley. Despite agriculture’s reliance on them as a workforce, the industry uses vast quantities of water and often pollutes resources. Change is difficult because these people are on the absolute bottom of the political pyramid and lack a voice in government, as discussed in this episode with Janaki Anagha, D...

Many of the one million people in California who lack access to safe and reliable drinking water are Latino agricultural workers living in small communities throughout the state’s Central Valley. Despite agriculture’s reliance on them as a workforce, the industry uses vast quantities of water and often pollutes resources. Change is difficult because these people are on the absolute bottom of the political pyramid and lack a voice in government, as discussed in this episode with Janaki Anagha, D...