September 15, 2023

Episode 76: Monitoring Microplastics

27 minutes

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the hosts share the latest news from Xylem regarding its acquisition and C-suite leadership, final amendments to the Waters of the United States (WOTUS), and the EPA’s new priorities for 2024 to 2027 including PFAS initiatives. Additionally, co-host Bob Crossen interviews Nathaniel Banks, co-founder and chief technology officer of PolyGone and Yidian Liu, co-founder of PolyGone, two Princeton researchers developing technology to monitor and remove microplastics from water ways.

Show Notes:  

Xylem announces CEO, CFO succession plan

EPA, Army amend WOTUS to align with Supreme Court wetlands decision

EPA announces 2024-2027 enforcement priorities

Committee releases financial recovery estimates for the $13.6B drinking water PFAS settlement

Timestamps:  

Cold open | 0:00

Host introductions | 1:16

Episode summary | 1:37

Xylem CEO succession plan | 2:11

Final WOTUS rule | 3:58

New EPA enforcement priorities | 6:07

Interview with PolyGone begins | 8:48

How prolific microplastics are in waterways | 9:04

How microplastics are defined | 10:34

How did you get interested in microplastics research? | 11:17

What is the nature of your research? | 12:57

Developing more reliable datasets | 14:43

How storms increase microplatic counts in water | 16:13

Municipal pilots for PolyGone technology | 17:03

Correlations between microplastics and PFAS | 18:42

The last line of defense | 20:10

The biggest challenge for addressing microplastics | 20:45

Microplastics study in Canada | 21:55

Eager and exciting future | 23:48

Housekeeping | 25:04

Resources:

WWD on-demand webinar: Collection Systems: From inspection to rehabilitation

WWD Webinar: Why PFAS Necessitates a One Water Commitment

WQP & Crystal IS webinar: The Impact of PFAS in the Water Industry

Stormwater Solutions webinar: Exploring Stormwater BMP Co-Benefits to Reduce Stressors of Stream Health

About the Podcast  

Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal and industrial water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management and erosion control. It is produced in coordination between Water & Wastes Digest (WWD), Water Quality Products (WQP) and Storm Water Solutions (SWS). The podcast covers topics under the One Water movement including the municipal and industrial water and wastewater, point of use, point of entry, residential, storm water and erosion control markets. Talking Under Water highlights news, trends, new technologies, industry discussions and on-site interviews with experts for WWD, WQP and SWS. New episodes of the podcast are released on the third Friday of every month. Logo Images: Anatoly Tiplyashin / Romolo Tavani / stock.adobe.com.  

Contact the Talking Under Water podcast editors by emailing [email protected] engaging with them on Twitter @TUWpodcast. Join the conversation by commenting or using the hashtag #talkingunderwaterpod on social media. 