The Outfall Podcast

We have been working hard developing and collecting stories for the past few months, and next week we’re bringing you a brand new season of The Outfall. Season 5. Thank you for your continued support. The first episode drops Friday, May 5.

In addition, to producing all his YouTube videos, Grady Hillhouse is releasing his book today titled "Engineering in Plain Sight." This book is an illustrated field guide to every part of the constructed world around us.  We go behind the scenes to learn more about the book's creation. But, most importantly, Grady provides lessons in working through obstacles and reminding all of us of the power o...

One of the critical pieces of our supply chain happens at our Ports. So today, we go down the rabbit hole to the water’s edge where commerce, engineering, logistics, and water meet. We talk with Walter Lagarenne, Vice President, Engineering and Facilities at the South Carolina Ports Authority . See some cool pictures here in our show notes.

For over three decades, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have fought over the two shared river basins. Access to these basins is critical for the Atlanta metro area. Don’t worry this is not a story about water wars, water supply, or water litigation. This story is about the wonderful Katherine Zitsch, Managing Director of Natural Resources at Atlanta Regional Commission and Director of Metropolitan N...

We are excited to announce our book club pick for this year. We wondered what a book club announcement would sound like if it were a movie trailer. Join the book club here.   Enter the raffle for a FREE book here.

Today we're going to Antarctica, one of the world's coldest and most pristine places. Specifically, we are going to The US McMurdo Station, the largest science station on the continent. It has over three hundred toilets. So, where does the wastewater go, and how is treated? In this episode, you'll find answers. See pictures and learn more in the show notes here.

What if you could measure water quality from pixels on an aerial image? This episode is about the emerging geospatial analytics field that combines data-hungry algorithms and AI with remote sensing data. This technology can change how we identify, measure, and solve challenging environmental problems. We talk with the Sean Donegan, President & Chief Executive Officer of Satelytics.    Learn more i...

We were honored to have Cynthia Barnett, award-winning author of The Sound of the Sea, join us virtually as we discussed the book together this past fall. We did not know what to expect from our first Outfall Book Club, but not only was it a wonderful discussion of the book, Cynthia shared some life wisdom with us all. Her paperback is now available. To help celebrate, we are also giving away one...

If you have been to a pool already this summer, you have seen a bright-colored pool noodle. Someone had to have invented these, right? Yes, someone did, and this invention was far from guaranteed success. Enjoy this fun summer water short.

You want to know right? Should Doc Brown drive an F-150 Lightning, Ford's new all-electric truck?  We have got the answer in this water short.  Visit the show notes here.

Building our infrastructure in regular times is hard. But, in this new volatile world, it's like the heat is on, stakes are higher, and conflicts are easier. Our guests include: Phillip Sexton, Capital Projects Director, with North Charleston Sewer District Mack Harmon is with Ferguson Waterworks Justin Jones is a Preconstruction Engineer with Harper General Construction Learn more in our show not...

As a quick update, we have been working hard on our new season of The Outfall. Season 4. Thank you for your continued support. The first episode drops on May 13. In the meantime, we thought we would share one of our first water shorts since it is blue ghost hunting season.  The Blue Ghost Firefly is found nowhere else in the world but in the Southern Appalachians, and the largest population is in...

This episode concludes our conversation with Tim Cash about his adventures operating a fire tower for the US Forest Service this past year. We shift gears from talking about the lookout itself to the elements- fire, smoke, and lightning. One of the fires he experienced burned close to a million acres, which is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.  To see more pictures go to the show notes here....

We go on the front lines of a drought from a unique vantage point—a fire tower. Tim Cash, a retired career public servant with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, shares his eye-opening adventures of operating a fire tower for the US Forest Service this past year. So how do you get to spend a summer out west in a tower? For Tim, it only took him over forty years. Check out the show note...

In this episode, we continue the  flushable wipes story  originating deep under the streets of Charleston from our first season. We talk with  Paul Calamita with Aqualaw  about Charleston Water System’s lawsuit against seven manufacturers and retailers of wipe products. Paul and Charleston Water System have been climbing a mountain without an established trail. How were they going to win where so...

Earlier this year, we talked to a commercial diving firm, Global Diving & Salvage, Inc., to learn more about what they did. Here are five things we learned that we think you may enjoy too. The clock is ticking for this five-minute water short.  Check out the show notes.

This is a story about people and a utility rising up in unbelievable circumstances where failure was not an option. We go behind the scenes and learn how the CIty of Columbia responded to cascading catastrophic failures throughout their infrastructure, and the lessons learned in the past six years. We want to thank Clint Shealy and Joey Jaco for sharing their stories. Learn more in the show notes.

This episode is a tale about an abandoned one-of-a-kind facility recently discovered in a middle of a South Carolina river, a famous sediment transport researcher and Albert Einstein.  Yes, Albert Einstein.  Check out the show notes to pictures of the lab and Albert Einstein.

We have talked about starting a book club since we began the podcast. Well, we finally did it. We are excited to read together as a community Cynthia Barnett’s new book, The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans. We caught up with Cynthia to learn more about the origins of the book. Now, this is the cool part. Cynthia will join us in October to help us dig deeper into her book. We...

In this episode, we talk to a YouTube superstar, Grady Hillhouse. Grady has over two million subscribers to his video channel called Practical Engineering. We learn the remarkable tale about how he started and how he has evolved. Grady also reveals for the first time a new project. Grady is leading the way and exposing others to our built world.   Learn more about Grady in our show notes.

It seems nothing we buy today is immune to supply constraints in this crazy connected world, including new water Infrastructure. For example, pipes sometimes can be hard to find depending on the size and material, and costs are increasing daily. This episode swims upstream in the pipe supply chain to find out why.  Show notes can be found here.

John Woodruff spent six years building an oasis. He made it without blueprints but had a vision of a water-filled oasis with plants and trees of all varieties, fish, and a mini-golf course carved through solid canyon walls eons ago. We hear about his remarkable journey, learn about how he uses water, and we even learn about the mini-golf craze of 1931. Check out the show notes here for pictures of...

On this episode: We talk to artist Mary Edna Fraser, an internationally renowned artist. She has done some largest batik works to date by one artist. Also, we were able to talk with her good friend Marjorie Wentworth, NYT best-selling author and former SC poet laureate. Sometimes, in looking so closely at what we do, we can miss the beauty and power that water has. Read more in the show notes.

The wonderful Christina Rae Butler, author of the recently published book titled Lowcountry at High Tide: A History of Flooding, Drainage, and Reclamation in Charleston, South Carolina joins us. She spent close to a decade writing this first-ever book about the topographic evolution of Charleston.   In this episode of The Outfall, Christina explains how compacted material or fill physically transf...

It’s that time of year again. We have been working hard and next week we’re bringing you a brand new season of The Outfall. Season 3. We will explore more and laugh more. Thank you for your continued support. The first episode drops next Friday, April 9th.