Scaling UP! H2O

Industrial water professionals are increasingly pulled into conversations about scarcity, resilience, and "where the next gallon comes from."   Dr. Veronika Zhiteneva , CEO and Co-founder of   Waterloop Solutions   frames water reuse as an implementation challenge more than a technology gap—and explains where the practical starting points are when the scope feels overwhelming.   Moving reuse forwa...

"Stay curious. And you only have one reputation. Guard it with your life." Hiring for judgment, not just rehearsed confidence   Industrial water treatment is full of decisions made with incomplete data—on sites, with customers, and inside the business. JD Roth (Managing Director and Co-owner of Guardian Chemicals ) builds his hiring around that reality. His aim is straightforward: protect the team...

 Trace Blackmore opens 2026 with a practical reset: how to plan with urgency, sharpen the fundamentals that make troubleshooting easier, and use the tools around this podcast to keep your development moving all year. The 12-Week Year: urgency you can use Annual goals often feel "far away" until December forces focus. The 12-week year flips that dynamic by treating each quarter like a year—creating...

 A year-end recap is more than a highlight reel—it's a practical reset. In this New Year episode, Trace Blackmore walks through 2025 using a "12 Days of the Scaling Up Nation" format, tying together performance, community growth, listener engagement, and the sponsor support that keeps the podcast and its companion tools available at no cost.    Year-end by the numbers    Trace explains how he used...

  "So one thing I never do is try to start giving remediation or advice before I truly have understood and diagnosed the problem."   Mentorship and certifications don't replace experience—but they can accelerate it when paired with the right mindset and a disciplined approach to learning. Nella Fergusson, CWT (District Manager, Southern California, Garratt-Callahan ), lays out what "growing up" in...

 Industrial cooling is one of the biggest levers industrial facilities can pull on water use—and it's getting harder to ignore as data centers and other high-heat operations grow. Returning guest  Dr. Kelle Zeiher   (Project Manager at  Garratt Callahan ) breaks down what water reuse looks like when you move past slogans and into the realities of pretreatment, concentrate management, footprint, an...

Industrial water professionals sit at the intersection of risk, regulation, and community trust. In this episode, Dr. Annette Davison ("the water risk doctor") joins Trace Blackmore to show how disciplined governance, clear supply chain thinking, and community engagement can turn fragmented water systems into coherent, defensible risk management frameworks.   Water risk from source to customer   A...

 Entamoeba histolytica nearly ended Ron Blutrich's scientific career. Instead, it pushed him to rethink how we protect people in multi-family buildings, senior facilities, and dense urban centers from invisible microbiological risks in their drinking water. In this episode, he joins host Trace Blackmore to unpack what whole-building UV can (and can't) do for Legionella, biofilm, and real-world wat...

What happens when you build a company around one niche, listen obsessively to customers, and never stop improving? In this episode, host Trace Blackmore  finally sits down for a full-length conversation with  Frank Lecrone , Founder, President, and CEO of  AquaPhoenix Scientific . What started in a small 60' x 60' space in Hanover, Pennsylvania, with three employees, maxed-out credit cards, and en...

"The More You Know" - Robin Deal A million-gallon-a-day perspective, distilled into actionable steps. Robin Deal , AquaPure Product Manager at Hubbard-Hall   unpacks how seasoned pros can squeeze more performance—and less sludge—out of industrial wastewater systems without compromising compliance or plant uptime.     From "clear water in a jar" to stable discharge in the field   Robin details a pr...

Get stuck in – Michael Bourgeois , CWT How do standards get written in ways that working water treaters can actually meet? In this conversation, AWT Past President, current Related Trade Organization (RTO) Committee Chair, and Chemco Products Company Operations Manager, Michael Bourgeois CWT , explains how AWT's liaisons collaborate with peer organizations, so guidance reflects field reality—opera...

Holidays don't usually line up with release day—but this year they did. In this Halloween special, Trace uses the horror-movie trope of the "scary boiler room" to deliver practical, field-tested reminders for safer sampling, clearer thinking, and better decisions in high-heat, low-light spaces.   Boiler Rooms, Myths, and Real Risks   From Nightmare on Elm Street to Tower of Terror , pop culture lo...

 Hiring in industrial water is slow, specialized, and expensive to get wrong. In this conversation, executive advisor  Randi Fargen   explains how a two-question, 5–7 minute Culture Index survey becomes an ongoing management and coaching system —not just a hiring screen—so owners cut turnover risk, speed onboarding, and improve day-to-day communication.    From "assessment fatigue" to a usable lan...

How do you make "right person, right seat" a repeatable system—not a hope ?  Fact Water Co ' s Danielle Scimeca (President) and returning guest Conor Parrish (Chief Growth Officer) share how the Culture Index became a decisive tool for coaching, hiring, and a company-wide restructure. If you lead field service, customer service, or operations in industrial water, this conversation offers practical...

 Industrial Water Week 2025: Careers Friday brings the celebration back to first principles—mentors, disciplined training, and field diagnostics that go beyond the screen. Trace reflects on the people who invested in his craft, recognizes guest contributors across the week, and issues a practical challenge to invest in one new professional before the day ends.   Foundations that Compound A candid...

Wastewater isn't an endpoint—it's a decision point. On Wastewater Thursday , host Trace Blackmore, CWT sharpens the operator's toolkit with field-tested lessons: dose by mechanism, verify by sampling discipline, and use wastewater's fast feedback to protect quality, cost, and permits. Sampling discipline protects credibility Trace recounts an early-career moment when an inspector sampled the wrong...

 Cooling Wednesday is about performance, protection, and proof. Trace Blackmore invites the Nation to get hands-on with cooling equipment and share field photos while offering a practical reminder: learn to navigate the chiller's user interface—because it's your fastest route to actionable diagnostics, documentation, and energy impact. Reading the Chiller UI—From Intimidation to Insight Modern mic...

  Boiler rooms reward clarity: how many BTUs from the flame actually arrive in steam—and stay there to do useful work? For Boiler Tuesday, Trace Blackmore, CWT, treats boiler care as heat-transfer management across the full train, from feedwater and deaeration to distribution and condensate return, with dry steam as the operational benchmark. Heat Transfer Is a Leadership Metric Dry steam isn't a...

  Industrial Water Week is here—and Day 1 is Pretreatment Monday . This special episode sets the tone for the week with specific ways to celebrate as a team, sharpen field practices, and share what you do with the people who matter most. Celebrate with purpose Host Trace Blackmore outlines simple, high-signal actions: take a field photo with your pretreatment gear, tag it #IWW25 , #IndustrialWater...

The best leaders are the ones that can hold space for both—care personally and challenge directly. Work never happens in a vacuum. Field calls, customer pressure, travel, and deadlines compound the very real mental load carried by water professionals. In this conversation, Dr. Andy Melton , a professional counselor and executive coach at   www.andymelton.com — shares clear, practical ways leaders...

What happens when cities become "networked"—and water systems start telling us what they need in real time? In this episode, Trace Blackmore speaks with Christine McHugh (CEO, White Strand Development) about practical smart-city strategies for water: real-time monitoring, digital twins, and IoT/AI approaches that turn Legionella control from periodic testing into continuous risk management. Christ...

Can a carbon-negative, bio-based molecule replace legacy phosphonates and help you use  less azole —without sacrificing corrosion performance? In this episode, host Trace Blackmore, CWT , welcomes Matheus Paschoalino, PhD Senior Business Development Manager and Microbial Control SME of Solugen , to unpack polyhydroxycarboxylic acids (PHCs) and how they're changing cooling-water programs from the f...

What if HR wasn't the department you dreaded — but the partner that helped your team thrive?   In this episode of Scaling UP! H2O , host Trace Blackmore welcomes Tia Amundson , HR Director at HOH Water Technology , to explore how human resources can be a strategic driver of talent, culture, and profitability in the water treatment industry.   Redefining HR's Role   Tia shares her journey into wate...

With those words, Jemma Tennant highlights one of the most profound differences between Legionella management in Europe and the United States. In this episode of Scaling UP! H2O, host Trace Blackmore welcomes Jemma Tennant , Chair of the Water Management Society (WMSoc), to explore how legislation, enforcement, and professional training shape the fight against Legionella.    Proactive Regulation a...

Legionella remains one of the most complex challenges for water professionals worldwide. How do we balance effective monitoring with realistic costs—and which strategies deliver true public health impact? In this episode, Trace Blackmore welcomes  Dr. Vincenzo Romano Spica ,   Head Public Health University of Rome "Foro Italico  to explore new insights from his comparative research on Legionella c...