waterloop

Orange County shows how water recycling moves from idea to impact—linking history, science, and workforce to make reuse mainstream. At Irvine Ranch Water District, Paul Cook explains how a simple visual breakthrough—the now-iconic purple pipe—was created in the 1980s to clearly mark recycled water and build public trust, a standard that spread across California and the world. At Orange County Wate...

Annabelle Rayson’s journey into water science began on the shores of Lake Huron and has grown into an award-winning pursuit of global impact. A student at Harvard University and winner of the 2022 Stockholm Junior Water Prize, Annabelle shares how her childhood curiosity about the Great Lakes evolved into groundbreaking research and real-world problem solving. She describes her innovative “Plankto...

SUEZ is aiming to ignite innovation in North America by bringing its 160 years of global water expertise and thousands of patented treatment technologies to utilities across the continent. In this conversation from WEFTEC, Joshua Cantone and Abigail Antolovich of SUEZ share how the company is focused on empowering utilities with advanced tools and know-how for smarter, more sustainable solutions....

PFAS remains one of water’s toughest and most urgent challenges — a class of thousands of persistent compounds still only partly understood but deeply embedded in modern life and the environment. In this episode, Peter Grevatt, CEO of The Water Research Foundation, discusses the state of PFAS research, including how science is closing critical knowledge gaps and revealing where the next breakthrou...

San Diego is proving that the future of water is recycled. This episode visits Santee Lakes—one of California’s earliest examples of water reuse—with Kyle Swanson of Padre Dam Municipal Water District, who explains how a 1960s experiment turned wastewater into a beloved community asset and a model for the world. The story then moves to the North City Water Reclamation Plant, where Doug Campbell fr...

Introducing the Hydro20, a group of twenty individuals celebrated for driving change, disrupting norms, and doing good for water sustainability across the United States. The Hydro20 is an initiative of waterloop, a nonprofit news outlet, and was announced during Climate Week NYC at the Rethinking Water conference hosted by Columbia University. The inaugural Hydro20 Honorees: -Jorge Richardson – Fo...

Inside infrastructure, there’s a simple device called check valves quietly protecting water systems from chaos, stopping dirty water from flowing backward, and keeping everything running smoothly amid bigger storms, tighter regulations, and growing cities. In this episode, Cal Hayes from Proco Products explains the vital role of check valves. He explains how they need zero maintenance or power, ma...

Pittsburgh is writing a playbook on lead pipe replacement, aiming to eliminate all toxic lines by 2027. In this episode, Will Pickering, CEO of Pittsburgh Water, and Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis of Women for a Healthy Environment reveal the strategy behind this national model. With over $200 million in federal grants and low-interest loans, the city has replaced 13,000 lead service lines at no cost...

As Southern California wonders if water scarcity could ever spiral into a “Day Zero” crisis, the region stands at a crossroads for securing its water future. In this episode of In The Newsroom, Ian James, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, dives into the critical decisions shaping the region’s water portfolio. With half its supply imported from vulnerable sources like the Colorado River, Sacram...

Houston is known as the energy capital—but it’s also the Bayou City, where water flows not just through the environment, but through culture, memory, justice, and resilience. In this episode from the Color of Water series, Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud, Executive Director of Bayou City Waterkeeper, shares how her background in art and advocacy fuels bold environmental leadership rooted in equity. She dis...

Texas is tackling its booming population’s water demands with a bold $20 billion investment plan to secure sustainable supplies and infrastructure by 2050. In this episode of In The Newsroom, Todd Votteler, a veteran water expert and editor of the Texas Water Journal, joins the podcast to discuss the state’s dynamic water landscape. With Texas expecting about 40 million residents by mid-century, t...

AI isn’t coming—it’s already here, and it’s reshaping how communications and marketing get done. In this episode, Shama Hyder, a leading voice in digital transformation, explains why this moment demands strategic urgency and how organizations must adapt or risk falling behind. She shares how AI is disrupting knowledge work, changing workflows, and redefining what entry-level even means. Shama lays...

Healthy rivers are essential for thriving communities, and smart, nature-based solutions are proving crucial to turning things around in a changing climate. In this episode, Derek Vollmer, Director of Waterscapes for the World Wildlife Fund, shares how their program uses innovative, place-based strategies to restore rivers and build resilience worldwide. From the US-Mexico border, solutions for th...

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. She unravels the complex plan to transport water from Northern to Southern California, detailing its immense cost, the decades-long permitting battles, and the stark divide...

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 science, regulation, and infrastructure are now stopping the ground from sinking. Chrissy Butcher of Baytown Nature Center and Jason Ramage of the U.S. Geological Survey expla...

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 Schick of Oregon Public Broadcasting breaks down how the Trump administration scrapped a landmark deal that would have paved the way for breaching four Snake River dams to sa...

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 Antoine Walter, host of the (don’t) Waste Water podcast, for an insider look at how investment in the water sector is evolving—and where it’s still stuck. They discuss how priva...

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 conversation from the Reservoir Center in Washington, D.C., Cynthia Koehler, Executive Director of the organization, shares how their Project Accelerator provides pro bono support to uti...

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 drive innovation, jobs, and sustainable growth. The discussion explores how cities like Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Chicago are building a future around water tech, smart infrastr...

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 Funds—raising serious concerns about how utilities will afford compliance and critical infrastructure upgrades. In this episode of In The Newsroom, Bob Crossen, Editorial Dir...

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 this episode, Beth Roach, Vice Chair of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia and National Water Conservation Campaign Manager for the Sierra Club, shares her personal and profe...

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 soils far below the surface, to avoid harmful runoff and recharge groundwater. In this episode, Gregor Patsch of Oldcastle Infrastructure explains how vertical drywells work,...

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 pathway for continued investment and action around critical infrastructure and public health. In this conversation from the Reservoir Center, Mae Stevens of Banner Public Affairs...

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 in seawater desalination and deliver scalable, sustainable solutions. Lauren Greenlee, Executive Vice President of Food+Water+Waste at XPRIZE, shares how the foundation uses...

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 joins members of the Coharie Tribe on a World Water Day paddle through their ancestral waters on the Black River. Guided by Kullen Bell and other tribal leaders, the journey rev...