waterloop

Crews in The Ocean Race, the iconic around-the-world sailing competition, have noticed changes in the water such as more trash and less marine life. But increasingly sailors and organizers are steering toward sustainability, including by gathering scientific data at sea and making changes to the event’s footprint. In this episode Anne-Cecile Turner, Sustainability Director for The Ocean Race, and...

Communities of color and low-income suffer disproportionately from polluted water and delivering environmental justice in these situations is essential for achieving broader equity in society. This is reflected in the fight against waste from concentrated animal feeding operations, fossil fuel pipelines, and contaminated drinking water in North Carolina, as discussed in this episode with Jovita Le...

The U.S. coast is unprepared for the increasing impacts of storms and sea level rise on communities, infrastructure, the economy, and the environment itself. Comprehensive changes in leadership, policies, programs, and funding could create a more resilience coastline. In this episode Jeff Peterson discusses his book A New Coast, which offers strategies for responding to devastating storms and risi...

In the Mississippi Delta there is no bigger force on the economy and the environment than agriculture, with its tens of millions of acres of farmland that both feeds a nation and impacts water quality. In Arkansas programs can help both if they arise from collaboration and provide benefits for farms and conservation, as discussed in this episode with Jason Milks, Delta Projects Manager for The Nat...

Although New Mexico receives far less attention than many other western states, it is at the precipice of a water crisis, with climate change further straining the arid state and groundwater impacted by the oil and gas industry. The situation is discussed in this episode with Laura Paskus, author of At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate, a reporter for New Mexico in Focus, and board memb...

Last century’s approach to water management was based on controlling nature, a fragmented infrastructure system, and general sense there was plenty of water. But the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century have spurred a transition to a water management approach revolving around circularity, scarcity, and nature itself. The past, present, and future are discussed in this episode with News...

A lack of information on groundwater has historically posed challenges for management. Now emerging tools are expanding and organizing the data available for decision-making, as discussed in this episode with Ben Kerr of Foundry Spatial, Melissa Rohde of The Nature Conservancy, and Tom Gleeson of the University of Victoria. They talk about using technology for groundwater management in Canada and...

Residents of Toledo, Ohio deal with water challenges ranging from pollution in Lake Erie to lead pipes for drinking water to increasing utility bills. Toledo’s communities of color and low-income have historically lacked information and input in water issues such as these. But now that’s changing through community outreach as discussed in this episode with Alexis Smith, Community Program and Techn...

Budgets are struggling to keep up with the scale and scope of water projects that need funding in communities across the U.S. At the same time, it is extremely difficult for public agencies to take risks on solutions that could address water challenges in more affordable and effective ways. In this episode Eric Letsinger, CEO of Quantified Ventures, discusses the rise of environmental impact bonds...

The Colorado River is managed under the “Law of the River,” a complex series of agreements, laws, legal decisions, and regulations that originated with the 1922 Colorado River Compact. There are important lessons and successes from the past 100 years to remember as the basin faces urgent water challenges driven by climate change and population growth and stakeholders work on renegotiation of river...

Oysters are an iconic and important part of Louisiana’s coastal ecosystem, culture, and economy. But in addition to harvest pressure, the oysters are under stress from increased freshwater, either from heavy rainfall fueled by climate change or diversions of water from the Mississippi River. In this episode Morgan Kelly, an Associate Professor of Biology at Louisiana State University, discusses th...

Historically bulkheads, seawalls, and other hardened structures were used along the Carolina coast to protect from the forces of erosion, waves, and storms. But there is a rise in the use of living shorelines, a stabilization technique that uses natural materials like rocks, oyster reefs, and plants. Living shorelines are better for water quality, property protection, and fish habitat. This episod...

A common market-based approach to environmental conservation is stream mitigation banking, which allows an entity to degrade or destroy a stream while developing property in exchange for restoration of a stream someplace else. A new book Streams of Revenue explores the history of this practice and is authored by Martin Doyle, a professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University...

The higher temperatures and reduced precipitation in the Colorado River Basin are no longer viewed as a short-term drought, but as a longer-term aridification caused by climate change. The alarming strain on the region’s water resources is being met with a more holistic approach to management, a deeper sense of collaboration, and a variety of innovative efforts all aimed at a sustainable future. I...

As the drinking water crisis unfolded in Flint, it became clear that removing all of the lead pipes to people’s homes would be a daunting challenge. Among the reasons - a lack of records on locations, competing approaches for the order, and a community that was distrustful and in many ways disconnected. But more than five years later most lead pipes are out of the ground. In this episode reflectio...

Conversation and collaboration are key ingredients in accelerating change in water management across Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, where aging infrastructure, mining and fracking, and emerging pollutants like PFAS are part of the water challenges. In this episode Alison De Luise, Senior Advisor at the Water Center at Penn, and Karl Russek, Director of Applied Research at The Water Cent...

The spectacular California coast is incredibly diverse, from the mega-urban areas of Southern California and the Bay Area to the rugged rural areas of the Central Coast and Northern California. The water challenges are equally diverse, with climate change, stormwater, agriculture, the energy industry, and more as problems. In this episode Sean Bothwell, Executive Director of the California Coastke...

Greg Characklis is Director of the Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems at the University of North Carolina. In this episode Greg explains the financial risk to society from variability in the environment, including rainfall, water levels, and temperature, as well as extreme weather events. He discusses the increased attention on the risk from lenders, investors, insurance companies,...

Greg Characklis is Director of the Center on Financial Risk in Environmental Systems at the University of North Carolina. In this episode Greg explains the financial risk to society from variability in the environment, including rainfall, water levels, and temperature, as well as extreme weather events. He discusses the increased attention on the risk from lenders, investors, insurance companies,...

Philip Berke is the Director of the Center for Resilient Communities and the Environment at the University of North Carolina. In this episode Philip explains the pressing need for communities to focus on planning to become more resilient to climate change. He discusses a variety of approaches, from hardening of infrastructure to managed retreats, that communities are taking in places like Virginia...

Kathryn Lucero is Community Environmental Management Specialist at Communities Unlimited. In this episode Kathryn talks about colonias, the Spanish word for neighborhood, which is used in reference to residential areas along the U.S.-Mexico border that often have substandard housing and lack basic infrastructure such as water. She discusses how efforts of the past 20 years have brought drinking wa...

Heather Stapleton is a professor and Lee Ferguson is an associate professor at Duke University. In this episode Heather and Lee discuss how discovery of GenX in North Carolina’s Cape Fear River sparked testing for PFAS in waterways across the state, which found elevated levels of the forever chemicals in the Haw River. They explain how an exposure study is examining PFAS in drinking water, residen...

An estimated one million people in California lack access to safe, reliable drinking water and most of them are Latino and low-income individuals. Susana De Anda is the Executive Director of the Community Water Center and explains how it uses a blend of education, organizing, and advocacy to address the drinking water crisis in the state. She also discusses the importance of local involvement in s...

Marc Edwards is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech University. In this episode Marc discusses how he became involved in the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan and that it was a failure of responsibility across all levels and aspects of government. He explains the model of investigative science that he and his team uses to examine drinking water quality, and while he dislikes c...

Felicia Marcus is a Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program and member of the Water Policy Group. In this episode Felicia discusses many of the major water issues in California, drawing from her experience in leadership roles at the U.S. EPA, state Water Resources Control Board, and City of Los Angeles. She talks about California’s response to drought, including the emphasis on w...