Ripple Effect: A Podcast Putting Water In Context

Send us Fan Mail Move over PFAS, Sara Page, Drinking Water Treatment Lead for the Utah Division of Drinking Water, joins us to discuss my new favorite(?) emerging contaminant - microplastics. This is a fascinating discussion about the very complicated and complex nature of microplastics. Sara does a great job of breaking down the key considerations of shape, type (chemical composition), additives,...

Send us Fan Mail Justin Bowen, PhD and Founder of HydroScapes Analytics, joins us to discuss his dissertation and exciting new model for spatially mapping water rights, water rights distribution systems, and watershed conditions. This model brings together water right information, soil moisture conditions, OpenET evapotranspiration data, real time gauge measurements, and existing hydrologic models...

Send us Fan Mail Tia Cavender, CEO and Founder of Dig Deep Research, makes a return visit to discuss the status of federal funding for water projects. Tia and Dig Deep have assisted clients for over 15 years and are experts in navigating the myriad of federal grant and loan programs. We have a very timely, and sobering, discussion about how recent changes to federal funding may affect both current...

Send us Fan Mail Ryan Mozi, Sales Director, from Air-to-Water Canada, joins us to discuss their atmospheric water harvesting generators and business model. This is a great discussion about the status of the industry, the various applications and uses for atmospheric water harvesting, and the role of water sovereignty. Super fun and enlightening discussion about a very practical technology for an e...

Send us Fan Mail Laura Ault, Director, and Rick Kelson, LiDAR Master, of the Utah Geospatial Resources Center, join us to talk about the very important services the UGRC provide Utah. We have an entertaining and enlightening discussion about the importance of maps as the backbone of civil society (think addresses for emergency services, voting precincts, and all things natural resources), aerial i...

Send us Fan Mail Jeff Gittins of Smith Hartvigsen joins us again to do a legislative recap of the 2025 Utah legislative session. In sum, this is another year that builds upon prior legislation and sets out study and long-term goals for larger water thinking. 

Send us Fan Mail Steve Clyde, Senior Partner and Chair of the Natural Resources Practice Group at Clyde Snow & Sessions, joins us to talk about his 40 year legal career in Utah water. Steve is an esteemed Utah water lawyer responsible for shaping decades of Utah water law and mentor to countless Utah water attorneys. A wonderful discussion, personal thank you from Ripple Effect's host, an...

Send us Fan Mail Dan Adams, Senior Executive with the Langdon Group, and Celeste Carlisle; Biologist with Return to Freedom Wild Horse, Sanctuary, Educational, and Advocacy Group; Chair of the National BLM Wildhorse Working Group; and Chair of National BLM & Forest Service Wild and Burro Advisory Board; join us to talk wild horses in the West. This free ranging discussion covers the incredibly...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Pompeo, Environmental Engineer with Division of Water Quality, and Dani Zebelean, Environmental Engineer with Division of Drinking Water, join us to discuss Utah's water reuse projects and regulatory process. Andrew and Dani provide a fantastic overview of municipal waste water systems, how water reuse fits into that process, and what the future of reuse might look lik...

Send us Fan Mail Jason Brown, Vice President of Communications and Education at Envision Utah, and Bart Forsyth, Utah Water Ways Policy Advisor, join us to talk about the release of the Utah Water Values study. This extremely helpful survey, study, and review makes a contemporary assessment about what Utahns are thinking about Utah's water. The study provides concrete recommendations regardin...

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Page, Drinking Water Treatment Lead for the Utah Division of Drinking Water, joins us to provide a great PFAS update. We discuss EPA's final, but not yet implemented PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation, what monitoring and remediating PFAS will look like for various water systems, and the role of Guns and Roses in engaging water communication. Super practica...

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Null, Professor at Utah State University in the Department in Watershed Sciences, Nell Green Nylen, Senior Research Fellow, and Molly Bruce, Research Fellow at the Center for Law, Energy, & Environment at the UC Berkeley School of Law, join us to talk about their report “Information Needs for Water Markets: Fair and Effective Water Markets Require Adequate Measurement an...

Send us Fan Mail Doug Clyde, Project Manager for High Altitude Watershed Planning for Mountain Resort Consulting and former Member of Summit County Council Planning Commission, joins us to talk about the importance of watershed health and incorporating watershed protections to land use planning rules and regulations. We discuss the specifics of the Kamas Valley in Summit County, Utah as a prime ex...

Send us Fan Mail Shaina Shay, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the Water Report, joins us to talk about her thoughts and themes for the upcoming 2025 Water Year. We discuss 1) Climate Change Adaptation: fire, floods, and drought and the rise of nature based solutions; 2) Funding: the end of a once in a generation surge of money for water through the Bi-partisan Infrastructure Bill and Covid relief fundi...

Send us Fan Mail Jeff Gittins, partner at the law firm of Smith Hartvigsen and author of the Utah Water Law and Water Rights Blog, joins us for a 2025 Utah Legislative Preview. After several years of non-stop action, 2025 is shaping up to be a bit slower with most bills addressing specific administrative tweaks or brass tack items. This intentional slowdown is giving Utah some breathing room to le...

Send us Fan Mail Brett Bovee of Westwater Resources joins your host Emily Lewis to discuss the Utah Water Marketing Strategies Project. For the last 4 years Brett and Emily have been working with a Project Management Team of Clyde Snow, Westwater, HDR Engineering, the Utah Division of Water Resources, and the Utah Division of Water Rights to pilot the Utah Water Banking Act and to distill lessons...

Send us Fan Mail Brian Steed - Executive Director, Anna McEntire - Managing Director, and Stephanie Frohman - Associate Director, join us to discuss the purpose and mission of the Institute. The Institute is an exciting new(ish) effort to best use the fantastic research capabilities of USU to inform and support Utah's policy objectives for land, air, and water. By bringing together academics,...

Send us Fan Mail Dani Zebelean, Environmental Engineer III with the Utah Division of Drinking Water, joins us to discuss Minimum System Specific Sizing Standards. We discuss how Utah is working to get a better understanding of its water user by moving from a baseline estimate of per connection water use to the actual amount of used based on meter use. This is a brass tacks discussion about an impo...

Send us Fan Mail Robyn Grimm, Chief Executive Officer & President of the California Water Data Consortium, joins us to discuss the Consortium and its very cool mission. As a public/private collaborative non-profit, the Consortium makes the most of California's water data by: 1) developing tangible ways to apply and scale data systems; 2) convening the parties collecting, distributing, and...

Send us Fan Mail Laney Meeker, Programs Supervisor for the Statewide Planning Section of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and Christian Fauser, Western Water Policy Associate for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, join us to talk about several very exciting Arizona programs. They are currently working on an innovative Rural Partnership Program, the Arizona Watersheds Projec...

Send us Fan Mail Jonathan Jennings, Meteorologist and Cloud Seeding Coordinator for the Division of Water Resources, joins us to discuss Utah’s expanded and improved cloud seeding program. This is a great discussion about what cloud seeding is, what Utah’s goals are, and the potential to significantly increase our snowpack and necessary spring runoff. A great rundown of this super fun program: the...

Send us Fan Mail Joseph Blackman, Founder of Vitendo Training Solutions and Host of the Public Works Podcast, joins us to talk about his niche business of creating custom training videos for utilities. Joseph has hit on a great solution meeting a real need of utilities to find creative and effect ways to pass along their institutional knowledge. Joseph makes short custom videos and interviews with...

Send us Fan Mail Stephanie Santell, Senior Advisor in EPA’s Policy Office and Chair of the Resilient Infrastructure Work Group on Climate, joins us to discuss EPA’s new Climate Resilience and Adaptation Funding Toolbox (CRAFT) and so much more. This discussion provides a great summary of the purpose and function of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (to protect the environment and human h...

Send us Fan Mail TJ Budge of Racine & Olson joins us to give a fantastic update on the 2015 Idaho Groundwater Pumpers Association (IGWA) Settlement Agreement. The 2015 Settlement Agreement adopted an innovative conjunctive management program of balancing senior surface water rights and junior groundwater use with conservation measures, aquifer recovery and recharge, and collaborative modeling...

Send us Fan Mail Marian Rice joins us to talk about the many hats she wears and several exciting programs at the University of Utah. Marian sits as the:  Associate Director of Energy Futures Engine; Associate Director of Peak Water Sustainability Engine; the Lead Critical Minerals Working Group; and is on the Leadership Team NSF Southwest Sustainability Innovation Engine. The University is using t...