Water Values Podcast

Robert “Bo” Abrams is a professor of law at Florida A&M University’s College of Law, & he explains in clear detail how water law in the Eastern US has developed over time from the English common law to riparianism in its several forms. It’s a fascinating look at how economics, climate, municipal growth and other factors shape the development of the law. Bo posits that Western US & East...

Knowledge is power, and this week, Reese Tisdale brings some serious knowledge about water infrastructure needs culled from the work of his firm, Bluefield Research. Reese takes us on a journey from Bluefield’s origins to how it researches and develops water market intelligence. He further provides tremendous insight into how various factors affect the water industry. You’ll truly enjoy Reese’s th...

Steeped in entrepreneurialism, Megan Glover helped launch 120WaterAudit as her first foray into water entrepreneurship. She discusses how she got involved with 120WaterAudit, its lab quality testing services for water supplies, launch issues, and more. Megan layers in her observations about water entrepreneurship and how it differs from tech entrepreneurship. The end result? A great product that p...

Noted Texas water figure Carlos Rubinstein discusses a wide range of Texas water issues that you will easily recognize as applying to other areas of the country and world. Carlos explains the Texas water governance structure and water planning horizon. He explains the nuts and bolts of Texas’ innovative program for funding infrastructure and how projects involving public-private partnerships are e...

Raul Pacheco-Vega joins The Water Values Podcast Raul Pacheco-Vega joins The Water Values Podcast and discusses a wide range of issues affecting water. Our first topic was water conflict in Mexico, then we discussed the politics of global sanitation, and finally, we addressed privatization and public-private partnerships. Raul gave a great interview, and you’ll surely find his thoughts on these is...

Christine Boyle, President of Valor Water, joins The Water Values Podcast to discuss how big data can make big improvements to utilities’ bottom lines and customer perceptions.

Get a front row seat at the American Bar Association’s 34th annual Water Law Conference panel featuring Pat Mulroy, Brookings Institution, et al; Robert Puente, the President and CEO of the San Antonio Water System; and Vail Thorne, Senior Environmental Health & Safety Counsel with Coca-Cola. This week’s podcast is the Q&A session from that conference – a big thanks to the ABA and to each...

Ambient Water CEO, Keith White, discusses Ambient Water’s unique distributed water solution. Keith developed the distributed water technology and is now commercializing it with products that can help water poor areas with not only the provision of safe drinking water but also food supply and climate controlled shelter. You’ll be amazed with the distributed water solution that Ambient Water can pro...

The one and only Charles Fishman joins The Water Values Podcast to discuss a momentous development in water: the presence of a $267 million federal budget request from President Obama targeted to water initiatives. Charles brings his unique insight and gift for storytelling to this major development.

GE Water’s Jon Freedman joins The Water Values Podcast to discuss water reuse and other challenges in the water industry. Jon walks us through issues surrounding water reuse and recycling and gives us a peek behind the curtain about several water-related technologies and where he and GE Water see the next frontier of water technology.

Ever wonder how water is used in manufacturing processes? Grant Newhouse of Sustainable Water Solutions, LLC, provides a fantastic overview and explains the complex chemistry involved using easy-to-understand analogies. The world of water use in manufacturing processes is fascinating, and you’ll learn a tremendous amount about how manufacturers are employing technologies and processes to become mo...

Rob Renner, the Executive Director of the Water Research Foundation (WRF), joins us for a discussion about the work of the WRF. The WRF is a research cooperative, as described by Rob, and pools the resources of 1,000 utilities to focus on researching issues of common concern. Rob provides great perspective on how utilities are dealing with issues like climate change, source of supply challenges, a...

Spencer Williams of Ponderosa Advisors provides his insight into how different prior appropriation regimes are administered in several prior appropriation states. His insights into how water rights embody property rights and the difficulty in gaining precision as to the boundaries of water rights are fascinating. Spencer also discusses the Water Sage™ tool offered by Ponderosa Advisors and how it...

Irrigated agriculture expert Daniele Zaccaria joins The Water Values Podcast for an in-depth look at the state of irrigated agriculture. Daniele has been around irrigated agriculture his entire life and has a lot of knowledge to share about how irrigated agriculture works and where it’s headed. Tune in for an informative and fun talk with Daniele.

What a terrific year 2015 has been – thank you for making it so! Without you, the listeners and readers, I wouldn’t have been able to pull of a second year of The Water Values, so a heartfelt thank you to each of you.

Eleanor Allen joins The Water Values Podcast to discuss the history and mission of the great organization she leads, Water For People. Eleanor provides fantastic examples of how Water For People’s mission has changed over time to gain greater focus and target its assets to provide the greatest benefits. She describes how Water For People chooses its projects and how it delivers those projects work...

John Powell, the Coachella Valley Water District’s (CVWD) Board President joins The Water Values Podcast to discuss water in California’s Coachella Valley. As we all know, California is in the midst of a tremendous drought, but thanks to good planning the Coachella Valley’s water story showcases good water management from rate design to water use restrictions to farming to aquifer recharge. It’s a...

CH2M’s Scott Haskins, a Senior Vice President and Director of Strategic Consulting, joins The Water Values Podcast to discusses asset management programs. Scott guides us through asset management issues, including what asset management is, what are the different components of an asset management program and how to get started with an asset management plan. He also discusses risk issues and how uti...

Claus Helix-Nielsen, the Vice President of Public-Private Partnerships for Aquaporin A/S, joins The Water Values Podcast to discuss the state of membrane technology and the Aquaporin A/S forward osmosis membrane. Claus’ depth and breadth of experience will impress you as he provides the history of how these membranes are deployed to provide commercial benefits. Claus also provides unique insight i...

Retired Colorado Supreme Court Justice, Greg Hobbs, shares his knowledge of western water law, specifically the doctrine of prior appropriation and its impact on how the West developed. Justice Hobbs uses his deep and broad knowledge of water law to explain how the doctrine of prior appropriation developed. He provides an eye-opening analysis of water law and contrasts differing versions of prior...

Drew Bender of VS Engineering provides a wide-ranging discussion about green infrastructure, and in particular, constructed wetlands. Drew also poses a fundamental question that should be asked about every infrastructure project so that the project is built as efficiently, from a sustainability standpoint and from an economic standpoint, as possible. Drew also has ideas about whether green infrast...

Trevor Hill discusses an array of technology issues affecting water utilities. Trevor describes the utility market in which technology providers participate and identifies the challenges of speeding technology adoption. Using his experience at FATHOM, Trevor explains how FATHOM rose out of the consolidation of a number of utilities that needed technology integration but could not individually just...

Two water lawyers, Nathan Bracken of Smith Hartvigsen and Jan Neuman of Tonkon Torp, discuss the state of our federal water policy. Both Nathan and Jan are well-versed in water law and policy issues, and they have a number of recommendations for updating federal water policy. They also have interesting and provocative thoughts on what needs to happen in order to get the federal government, the sta...

Frank Holleman, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center, addresses the contaminants contained in coal ash, the historical manner of its disposal and storage, the evolution of utilities in dealing with coal ash storage issues, and much more. While cleaning up coal ash storage sites and protecting water quality is a work in progress, utilities have evolved from coal ash lagoon storage to...

Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) Asst. Prof. Shahzeen (“Shaz”) Attari, discusses the state of research into human behavior and resource use, specifically in this episode, water use. She walks us through the existing research, identifies new areas of research and helps us understand why we think the way we do about water. She relates some fascinating research res...