The Stream (with Will & Tom)

This week Will and Tom are joined by James Eklund , Water & Natural Resources Practice Lead, Sherman & Howard. Known as the architect of Colorado’s first strategic water plan, he was the Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. James talks about why involving all stakeholders, effectively democratising input on the future of their supply, was a central to the success of the plan....

In this episode, Will and Tom are joined by Newsha Ajami, Chief Development Officer for Research, Earth & Environmental Sciences Area, Berkeley Lab. They talk about the role of water demand reduction to help increase water security across the Colorado River Basin. Newsha discusses what’s needed to move from a centralised, aka the conventional water systems, to the decentralised model and the r...

In this episode, Will and Tom are joined by Aaron Tartakovsky, co-founder and CEO of Epic Cleantec.  He talks about the company genesis, and going back to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet challenge. With a background in politics and one of four co-founders of the business, Aaron talks about the challenges of carving out an entirely new market: onsite, water reuse withi...

In this episode, Will and Tom are joined by Dave who gives context on Southern Nevada, providing water in the desert and meeting the needs of a population that booms from tourism and the attraction of Las Vegas. As one of the Leading Utilities of the World, he discusses why they’re sharing lessons with like-minded water companies around the world on their 20-year demand management journey and also...

We've been looking forward to this one... This week, Will and Tom are joined by one of the founders of the sustainability movement, the great John Elkington. A founding partner and chief pollinator at Volans, and also the co-founder of ENDS (Environmental Data Services), John talks about the triple bottom line (people, planet and prosperity) vision, and why this ended up being recalled and re...

This week on #TheStream, Will and Tom are joined by Manuela Zoninsine, CEO & Founder of Kadeya, a closed-loop water vending service powered by digitally-connected reusable water bottles and mini bottling stations.  Find out about Manuela’s early experience as a journalist, being based in China ahead of the Olympic Games and why this helped to harness her critical thinking. Plus:  Manuela talks...

This week, John Matthews, Executive Director at Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), joins Will Sarni & Tom Freyberg to #TheStream to talk about his origin story as a butterfly biologist, work with the WWF and a life-changing trip to India where he was given a sobering case on the spiritual value of water. Plus:  John discusses the founding of AGWA and what water resilience really mean...

In this week’s episode, Will and Tom were delighted to be joined by Brendan Tierney, Managing Director and Head of Global Water Practice at Raymond James. He talks about his origin story: being attracted to Wall Street as an investment banker, before being made redundant and eventually joining Raymond James in 2016 to build out the water portfolio.  Plus, Brendan talks about: The areas where he se...

This week, Will and Tom, are delighted to be joined by Meena Sankaran, Founder & CEO Ketos, a vertically integrated water quality and monitoring platform.  Meena talks about the importance of crafting a culture in this episode and the importance of maintaining the attitude of a start-up.  Plus hear about: Meena's journey from humble beginnings in India where she learned the value of water...

This week, Will and Tom were delighted to be joined by Karina Peña, Co-founder & CEO of Dutch start-up, Field Factors. Karina talks about her origin story, moving from the Dominican Republic to being attracted to the Netherlands, with a background as an architect evolving into an urban water entrepreneur. Hear about how: At Field Factors Karina is rethinking rainwater harvesting, at scale, hel...

Episode four of the Stream is now live!  This week Will and Tom are delighted to be joined by one and only Joel Makower, chairman and founder of GreenBiz Group. Joel has been called the “guru of green business practices” by the Associated Press and has spent over 3 decades writing, speaking, advising and influencing companies to align pressing environmental and social issues with business success....

This week, Melissa Meeker, CEO of The Water Tower, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about her 25 years of experience in water resources management. Plus hear about: How Mellissa previously served as the CEO of The Water Research Foundation, helping it to merge with two other associations, as well as serving as the executive director of the South Florida Water Management District The lates...

This week on #TheStream, Will and Tom are joined by the incredible Sunny Wang, Water Resources Manager at City of Santa Monica.  Sunny talks about his journey from being a private consultant, working in the UK and being admittedly amused by the imperial-metric measurement mix, to taking up the role in Santa Monica. Since then he’s been involved in one of the most progressive projects, with the cit...

We are back! And kicking off Season Five of The Stream, Will and Tom are joined by Victoria Edwards, Founder & CEO of Fido Tech. In the next 40 minutes, hear about how Victoria made an instant splash in the water sector and her origins starting out on local radio. Plus, find out: - Why Victoria thinks everyone in the water sector should be fired?! - How we can stop 40% of our water from being...

In this special mini-season, before we kick off season 5, Will and Tom pack their bags and head to WEX Global 2022 in Valencia to chat with four special guests.   This week is the final episode in this mini-series and Will & Tom are joined by the fantastic Mohsen Mortada of IBI Group. Mortada talks about implementing the 'one water' approach at the Californian metropolitan water dist...

In this special mini-season, before we kick off season 5, Will and Tom pack their bags and head to WEX Global 2022 in Valencia to chat with four special guests.  This week, Pavel Policar, President of VAK HB, joins Will and Tom to talk about the work he has done turning around the fortunes of a municipality in the Czech Republic and how he got his nickname, the 'water butcher'! Plus, hea...

n this special mini-season, before we kick off season 5, Will and Tom pack their bags and head to WEX Global 2022 in Valencia to chat with four special guests.  This week, Sanmit Ahuja, Founder and CEO of Economic Impact Initiative, joins Will & Tom to chat about innovative water finance and business models. Sanmit talks about not just solving but delivering water solutions, the pitfuls of gre...

In this special mini-season, before we kick off season 5, Will and Tom pack their bags and head to WEX Global 2022 in Valencia to chat with four special guests.  But that's not all... For the first time, Wil and Tom record an episode in person!  This week, Mark Barnett, President and CEO of the National Water Commission of Jamaica, joins Will and Tom to talk about driving down Jamaica's...

It's the season finale and joining Will and Tom this week is  Dr Patrick Moriarty, CEO of think-tank IRC. A civil engineer and expert in water resource management, Patrick has over 20 years experience of in a broad range of issues around water, and its use in improving human wellbeing. In our conversation, Patrick gives an honest and much-needed commentary on the reality of meeting the Sustai...

This week, Carolina Garcia Arbelaez, Global Sustainability and Innovation Director at Anheuser-Busch InBev, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about: - Her origin story from Colombia, with a legal background but moving into a position at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) - Having a “eureka moment”, looking from the outside in on multinationals and realising that the private sector has the power...

This week, Avent Bezuidenhoudt, Head of investment at Earth Capital joins Will and Tom to talk about being new to the world of water, the ‘Cinderella, unloved industry’, and her origins in Durban.  Plus listen to discussions on:  - Avent's 25 years of experience in investing, portfolio management and corporate finance advisory - The reality of water scarcity in Cape Town after its ‘Day Zero’...

This week, Bessie Schwarz, Co-founder & CEO, Cloud to Street, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about democratising real-time flooding data and designing products for low and middle-income countries and communities.  Plus, hear about A case in the Republic of Congo, and how the government used the tracking system to identify 7000 refugees at risk from flooding, saving lives and securin...

This week, Professor Newsha Ajami, chief development officer for research, Berkeley Lab's EESA, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about decentralised solutions and what does the utility of the future look like? Plus we talk about:  - Professor Ajami's origin story, in Iran, providing decision support for infrastructure such as dams - Moving to North America and taking what she de...

This week, Nate Allen, the executive director of WaterStart, joins Will and Tom to talk about how, to date, the non-profit company has helped to facilitate 42 pilot projects, evaluate 400 technologies and helped raise total funding of $3.2 million dollars. Plus, listen to Nate talk about:  How the organisation operates with what it calls “first adopters” – helping to provide channels for innovatio...

This week Ari Raivetz, chairman and CEO of Transcend, joins Will and Tom to talk about his origin story and how it threw him into the world of water.  Listen to Ari talk about:  His background in investment, helping oil & gas companies to raise capital and then the subsequent ecological guilt that he swore to payback Taking up the role as CEO of Organica in Hungary, a company developing what c...