Waterproof

This is Waterproof Live! – recorded during Waterproof 2026 at the Fokker Terminal in The Hague. During this special live podcast episode, recorded in the middle of the event floor, Tracy Metz speaks with experts about one of today’s most urgent water challenges: how do we move from ideas and innovation to implementation and long-term resilience? Together with Jonathan Groubert and guests Neha Mung...

Thomas Edison once said “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” If you agree with that, you’ll love this edition of Waterproof, where we speak with people who learned to ‘Fail Forward’.  We start with Esther Shaylor of UNICEF and the WASH Failure Movement, who talks about the little jerrycan that couldn’t. Zahid Amin Shashoto of Bangladesh’s Uttaran shares the sto...

What if cities could float? What if we could predict floods before they happen? Or even create water from air? In the latest episode of our Waterproof podcast, we explore bold ideas and breakthrough innovations that could reshape how we live with water. From floating urban developments and digital twins that help predict floods, to new approaches to water governance and solutions that improve ever...

From satellites and weather stations to social media and AI – we have more data than ever to anticipate floods, droughts and extreme weather. But early warning is only effective if it reaches people in time.   In this new episode of Waterproof , host Tracy Metz speaks with five experts working at the frontline of early warning systems. Together they explore how data becomes action, why trust and c...

This edition of Waterproof is all about how modern-day science and age-old indigenous knowledge can be used to solve today’s water crises. So, not one or the other but both, fused together to come up with solutions to our common and increasing problems. Tracy spoke to four water experts from all over the world: a Maya from Mexico, a Fijian, a Sami woman from Sweden, and a native Hawaiian. They wer...

In this episode, we meet activists and campaigners who believe rivers and nature should have legal rights – just like people. They walk rivers, swim in urban waterways, write books, work with communities, and even take governments to court. All with one goal: ensuring clean, healthy rivers and cities where people can swim safely. Featuring: Matt Sykes – Co-Founder, Swimmable Cities Li An Phoa – In...

From Financing Green to Greening Finance. The difference is bigger than just syntax. So we speak with FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Bank about the “secret sauce” that allows them to loan money to projects most financiers would consider too risky. Projects like Taprobane Seafood in Sri Lanka, which FMO financed, even after 30 years of political instability. So why did they do it? We also speak wit...

Water, biodiversity and food: it’s Nature’s Recipe. But how do you keep these important drivers balanced, healthy, profitable and resilient? And what do jaguars and strawberries have to do with it? This episode of Waterproof tells stories all about how water, biodiversity and food meet. Did you know that 70% of the world’s freshwater is used for food production? And that food production causes 70%...

This episode of Waterproof is all about breaking the Build-Neglect-Repair Cycle. As we have called it: Build Neglect Repair Repeat. With the best intentions, countries in the global north often spend a bundle of money building something that people in developing countries need, or that the donor thinks they need. Then the locals can't maintain it, or can’t afford to, or they don't know how...

Once upon a time, Europeans would turn up in emerging countries with mega-infrastructure projects meant to help people. They were well-meaning, but often deaf to what the local populations wanted or needed. Times have changed and, as you’ll hear in this episode of Waterproof, more and more, the locals run the show! So, we bike through Amsterdam, where gardens and flood prevention measures are put...

This second episode of Waterproof is all about “The Salty Intruder”.  All over the world, arable land is becoming more and more saline, threatening farmers’ livelihoods and our food security. But there are smart, innovative people looking for solutions - and the Dutch are helping, for example with a new Virtual Reality game to teach farmers to plant salt tolerant crops.  In Egypt, where the Nile d...

For centuries, the Dutch have been good at keeping the water out using increasingly engineered structures of concrete and steel like the Delta Works. And for years, they’ve exported that technology too.  But times are changing. Macho dikes keep the water out, but they’re terrible for nature and biodiversity. The Dutch are - slowly - discovering that you can work with nature rather than against it....

Waterproof is the six-part Partners for Water podcast that travels the globe sharing uplifting stories about how today’s water crises are being tackled through smart ideas, local knowledge and international partnerships. Hosted by water expert Tracy Metz, Waterproof delves into six crucial water themes with local and international experts, researchers, practitioners and other water professionals....