Talking Under Water

In this episode Talking Under Water co-hosts discuss EPA’s draft guidance on PFAS in biosolids, lessons utilities can take from the PFAS regulatory landscape to prepare for future contaminants, and recent developments affecting stormwater and water infrastructure projects. Bob Crossen explains EPA’s newly released guidance for reducing risks associated with PFOA and PFOS in biosolids, highlighting...

In this episode Talking Under Water co-hosts Bob Crossen and Mandy Crispin discuss key insights and takeaways from the AWWA ACE26 conference, including affordability challenges, PFAS treatment and regulation, data center demands, and the evolving role of collaboration across the water sector. Recording from Washington, D.C., the hosts share firsthand experiences from sessions, interviews, and conv...

In this sponsored interview, Editorial Director Bob Crossen sits down with Blake Michal from Kamstrup to discuss what a decade of AMI performance can teach utilities about reliability, cost, and lifecycle value.  About the Podcast       Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management an...

In this episode Talking Under Water co-host Bob Crossen speaks with Krishna Prashanth, global product line manager for electromagnetic flow meters and global segment manager for water and wastewater instrumentation at ABB, about the promise and practicality of the circular water economy. Prashanth explains how the concept shifts water management away from a linear take-treat-discharge model and to...

In this episode Talking Under Water co-hosts discuss EPA’s latest PFAS regulatory moves, major new federal funding for drinking water and lead service line replacement, and stormwater-related investments aimed at protecting coastal water quality. The episode opens with a breakdown of EPA’s proposal to maintain drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS while reconsidering standards for several oth...

In this episode of Talking Underwater, Stormwater Solutions Head of Content Sarah Kominek speaks with Manuel Parra of Xylem Vue about how digital tools are changing the way municipalities prepare for and respond to flooding. The conversation explores how communities can use existing infrastructure more effectively, why high-quality data matters as much as data collection, and how predictive analyt...

In this episode Talking Under Water the co-hosts discuss the addition of microplastics to the EPA’s Sixth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL6), enforcement fallout from the Potomac interceptor sewer collapse, industrial wastewater sampling tied to a Tesla facility in Texas, and recent stormwater headlines across the U.S.  Show notes How EPA Regulates Drinking Water Contaminants CCL 6 Frequent Questio...

In this episode Talking Under Water co-host Bob Crossen discusses Water Week 2026 where key figures recorded messages from the event. The episode features firsthand perspectives from water sector leaders who gathered in Washington, D.C., for the annual Water Policy Fly‑In to advocate for national water priorities. Through voice memos from leaders at the Water Environment Federation, American Water...

In this episode Talking Under Water co-hosts discuss escalating water use restrictions in Denver, the broader legal and political fight over Colorado River allocations, and what differing conservation strategies reveal about the future of water management in the West. The conversation begins with Denver Water’s declaration of a Stage 1 drought, outlining outdoor watering limits, fines for repeat v...

Utilities hold more power than they think. In this day and age, with a few taps of a keyboard, information is literally at your fingertips. For some, that’s a simple Google search, and others a query with a generative AI tool. But for those more enterprising utility leaders, operators and managers, that interaction in peer groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Discord or other platforms.  They share best...

In this episode Talking Under Water co-host Mandy Crispin speaks with Angela Walker who is the Assistant Director of Wastewater Operations at the Brunswick‑Glynn Joint Water & Sewer Commission and one of the inspirations for this year’s Women in Water feature story. Walker reflects on her career journey, the role her mother played in shaping her sense of responsibility and stubborn determinati...

In this episode, Talking Under Water co‑hosts discuss the newest PFAS regulatory developments, major legal challenges, and the mounting strain on water and stormwater infrastructure across the U.S. The conversation begins with the EPA’s decision to add PFHXSNA to the Toxics Release Inventory, expanding federal PFAS tracking and community access to chemical data. The hosts then outline the unfoldin...

In this episode Talking Under Water co-host Bob Crossen talks with John Ikeda and Justin Roush about the launch of Xavier University’s groundbreaking Water Utilities Management master’s degree — the first program of its kind in the United States. Together, they discuss how the degree was conceived, the industry challenges it aims to address, and why workforce development has become one of the most...

In this episode of Talking Underwater, co-hosts Mandy Crispin and Bob Crossen explore the forces shaping the water and wastewater sector as the industry looks ahead to 2026.  The conversation opens with insights into new research on the growing water demands of data centers in Texas. Drawing from a recent white paper by the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), Crispin outlines how existing and...

In this episode Talking Under Water co-host Bob Crossen speaks with Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, about the evolving pressures on industrial water use and the widening implications of the AI boom. Drawing from his cross-sector expertise, Collins unpacks why water is an inherently hyper‑...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, Mandy Crispin and Bob Crossen discuss the EPA’s proposal to establish a national primary drinking water regulation for perchlorate under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The hosts break down the proposed rule, monitoring requirements, cost implications, and what utilities should prepare for, plus give updates on PFAS treatment research and recent wastewater spil...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the hosts discuss the state of the industry surveys from each water brand — Wastewater Digest and WaterWorld — with some data points. The hosts provide some analysis of the results, including what some of the biggest challenges and trends are moving into 2026.   Show Notes:    2025 State of the One Water Industry 2024 State of the One Water Industry Timestam...

In this episode of Talking Under Water as Kaitlin Spiridellis shares insights from her year-long global fellowship exploring water challenges and solutions across five continents. From Europe’s luxury water market and Vienna’s century-old gravity-fed system to sanitation campaigns in Indonesia, equity efforts for First Nations in Australia, and innovative partnerships in Africa, this episode uncov...

In this episode of Talking Under Water the hosts discuss recent industry news, including the resignation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) acting administrator, David Richardson; a newly proposed rule of Waters of the United States from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corp; the EPA proposing to revise PFAS reporting under the Toxic Substances Control Ac...

The water meter is the cash register for a water utility. For those how have worked win the water business for any amount of time, they've likely heard that adage. But how does a water system choose the right meter for the utility? Should utilities pick the cheap option because they cash-strapped? What is the difference if they are willing to pay for higher quality? In this sponsored interview wit...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, co-host Katie Johns spoke with Dr. Jeremy Hoffman, director of Impact Evaluation and Community Science at Groundwork USA, about water's role in climate resilience. Dr. Hoffman spoke about his research with Groundwork USA, including heat and flood data; touches on the importance of community engagement and shares what challengees the industry is facing when i...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the hosts break down recent news happening in the water industry. First, they covers the impacts of Hurricane Melissa, which made historic landfall in Jamaica on October 28 as a Category 5 hurricane before moving through Cuba and the Bahamas, leaving widespread damage and power outages across the Caribbean. Then, they dive into the Trump administration’s dec...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, co-Host Katie Johns spoke with Ryan Barton, hydrologist for the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources Water Management Branch, and Jocelyn Lu Morinishi, principal engineer at Brown and Caldwell as both of them have been named the Outstanding Rising One Water Leaders for the 2025 US Water Prize awarded by the US Water alliance. The two share their caree...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the co-hosts discuss recent industry news including two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) PFAS legal actions. First, the agency motioned to partially vacate a court case in which American Water Works Association (AWWA) sued the agency for procedural missteps in how it developed the concentration limits that defined the Hazard Index. Second, EPA anno...

As climate uncertainty and cybersecurity threats escalate, the utility industry is bracing for a future it can’t fully control. Over the past year alone, we’ve seen catastrophic events that exposed the vulnerabilities of water systems across the country. Talking Under Water Podcast host and VP of EB2B’s Water Group Bob Crossen spoke with Blake Michal, Manager of Solution Management at Kamstrup Nor...