Make Water Work Podcast

When Manny Patel's boss called to move him from the air program to drinking water, his answer was honest: "I don't know anything about water except that it comes from a tap and I drink it." A decade later, he calls those years the most fun of his nearly 40-year career.

In this episode of Make Water Work, Isaac Pellerin sits down with Manny Patel, Senior Director of Water Administration at 120Water and former Drinking Water Program Manager at Georgia EPD. Manny walks through what a state drinking water program actually does, why five new rules landing on flat budgets forced states to rethink their tools, and what he'd modernize next if he had the time and money.

In this episode:

- How a chemical engineer from petroleum refining and air permitting ended up running a state drinking water program

- The four core buckets of a state program: compliance, sanitary surveys, engineering review, and source water protection

- Monthly operating reports, CCRs, and the case for a single state dashboard

- Using data to prioritize SRF dollars before a crisis instead of after one

- Asset management: why pipe age isn't the only indicator of failure

- Why a 20-year regulator chose to join a solution provider

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:16 How did water find you?

02:49 From refining to air pollution control

05:07 What a state drinking water program actually does

12:08 Five new rules, flat budgets, and the LCRR inventory challenge

18:24 Beyond lead: modernizing MORs and CCRs

24:47 Data-driven funding and prioritizing SRF dollars

27:24 Asset management: age isn't the only indicator

32:26 Telling the water sector's story better

35:16 Why Manny joined 120Water

Connect with Manny Patel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manny-patel-871bb61b/

Learn more about 120Water: 120Water.com

#MakeWaterWork #DrinkingWater #WaterIndustry #LCRI #AssetManagement #SafeDrinkingWaterAct #WaterUtilities

For our 50th episode, we did something we've never done before — recorded in front of a live audience at Catalyst, inside a wine and culinary center in San Diego. Fitting, since this episode is all about terroir: how the best water communication doesn't copy-paste a playbook, it reflects the place it comes from.

Joining us are Kathy Bentz (Prince William Water) and Pal Hollywood (San Jose Water) — two communicators who've built real, local trust with the communities they serve, using some of the most creative engagement strategies we've featured on this show.

In this episode:

• How water found Kathy and Pal — from flooding on the Ohio River to falling in love with water through a tech-industry client

• Behind the Tap: how Prince William Water keeps messaging hyper-local, one hydrant flush at a time

• San Jose Water's hard-water influencer campaign — and why skipping "water influencers" for local lifestyle voices made all the difference

• H2Go Kids: how employees' own children became the voice of Prince William Water's public education videos

• The data center question that went viral at a board meeting, and the leak-alert story an influencer brought back on her own

• Why employees might be the most underused audience in water communications

• Live audience Q&A — cost, influencer vetting, employee recruitment, and more

🔗 Learn more:

Prince William Water: pwwater.org

San Jose Water: sjwater.com

Catalyst 2026: catalysth2o.org

👉 What's one story from your community that deserves to be told with more local flavor, not less? Drop it in the comments.

#MakeWaterWork #Catalyst2026 #WaterIndustry #WaterCommunications #PublicWaterSupply

"Disruptive" is the wrong word for water. So what's the right one?

In this episode of Make Water Work, Isaac Pellerin sits down with Cristina Ahmadpour, President and Managing Director, Americas at Isle Utilities, who has spent over a decade helping water utilities identify and adopt emerging technology. After 11 years leading Isle's US business, Cristina shares a candid look at what leadership has taught her about innovation, and why so many good ideas never make it past the pilot stage.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Cristina discovered, years into her career, that her grandfather helped build the dam infrastructure that brought water security to cities like Isfahan and Tehran

• Why real innovation isn't just new technology, but a full cycle that only counts once it's actually adopted and scaled

• The people and leadership gaps that make innovation harder in water than it needs to be

• Cristina's take on the "pilot to scale" gap: why vendors need more discipline in choosing early adopters, and why chasing scale too fast can backfire

• Why "performance guarantees" and skin-in-the-game deals could fix the industry's pilot-to-RFP problem

• Why water utilities shouldn't want to hear the word "disruptive," and what language works instead

• Lessons from 11 years in leadership: saying yes to opportunities, building the right team, and not compromising on culture

• Where Isle Utilities fits into the water innovation landscape today, 21 years after its founding

If you work in water innovation, utility leadership, or technology adoption, this conversation offers a grounded, honest look at what it actually takes to move a good idea from pilot to practice.

Connect with Cristina and Isle Utilities: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinaahmadpour/?isSelfProfile=false

Like, subscribe, and drop a comment: what's one piece of "innovation" happening at your utility that never gets called that?

#MakeWaterWork #WaterIndustry #WaterInnovation #UtilityLeadership #WaterTechnology #IsleUtilities

In this episode of the Make Water Work Catalyst Collab, Isaac Pellerin sits down with Britton Smith, founder and lead artist of Britton & The Sting, who served as a guide at Catalyst 2025 and led one of the most talked-about sessions of the year. They dig into how a commission for a theater on the Hudson turned into Mama, a project built entirely around water as a living, relational force, and what happened when Britton brought that same energy into a room full of water professionals.

In this episode, we cover:

• How a commission from Little Island, an amphitheater on the Hudson River, turned into Mama, a 16-song project reframing water as alive rather than just a resource

• Why Britton calls water "a map into how we should be living our lives more sustainably"

• The connection between water justice, environmental racism, and who historically got to live upstream versus downstream

• Inside Britton's Catalyst 2025 session: using water as a mirror to ask what parts of ourselves we leave at home, and why that question moved a room of water professionals to tears

• Why the "curse of knowledge" is a bigger barrier to public trust than most technical experts realize

• Britton's take on storytelling versus facts, and why "whoever tells the best story wins"

• Where to catch Britton & The Sting on tour

If you work in water communications, community engagement, or utility leadership, this conversation will change how you think about the parts of yourself you bring to the work.

Connect with Britton & The Sting: https://www.brittonandthesting.com/

Read more about Britton's work with water: https://www.them.us/story/britton-smith-mama-one-of-them-interview

Learn more about Catalyst 2026: catalysth2o.org

Like, subscribe, and drop a comment: what part of yourself do you leave at the door before you walk into work?

#MakeWaterWork #Catalyst2026 #WaterCommunication #PublicTrust #WaterIndustry #ArtAndActivism #WaterJustice

Heather Collins set out to work in aerospace. She ended up running water operations for 19 million people, and finishing a term as the 144th President of the American Water Works Association.

In this episode, Isaac sits down with Heather Collins, Assistant Chief of Operations at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and immediate past president of AWWA, for a conversation that moves from how water found her to what it actually takes to keep a region's water flowing when everything from cyberattacks to earthquakes is on the table.

In this episode, we cover:

•How a canceled aerospace internship led Heather into water, and eventually to public health, water quality, and operations at one of the largest water wholesalers in the world

•What AWWA actually is, how its 50,000 members and 43 sections work alongside its staff, and why the presidency is a one-year role built on decades of groundwork

•Why Metropolitan's century-old, largely gravity-fed system is an engineering marvel and what "manual mode" means for resiliency during cyberattacks and natural disasters

•The real relationship between data centers, power, and water demand, and what's misunderstood about it

•Why AI and automation are freeing up the workforce for higher-value work, not replacing the human judgment operators bring

•Rebuilding public trust in tap water across generations that get their information in completely different ways

•What Heather is most proud of from her presidential year, and her advice for the next generation of water leaders

Water is easy to take for granted right until it isn't. This conversation is a good reminder of everything standing behind the tap.

In this episode of the Make Water Work Catalyst Collab, Isaac Pellerin and Chelsea Boozer (Executive Director, Rogue Water Lab) sit down with Shannon Kring, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, director, and president of Red Queen Media. Shannon's work spans more than 70 countries and includes the feature documentary Nine Little Indians (executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Tony Robbins) and End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock, which follows Indigenous water protectors. She guided a session at Catalyst 2024 and joins us to go deeper into what she's learned filming water stories across rural, tribal, and urban communities nationwide.

In this episode, we cover:

• Shannon's own water story, from iron-stained well water in rural Wisconsin to unsafe tap water in Honduras to some of the best water in the world in Helsinki

• How Indigenous communities across Turtle Island relate to water not as a resource, but as a living relative deserving of care

• A hard lesson in cultural intelligence from the San Carlos Apache Reservation, and why "showing up" the right way changes everything

• The story behind Lowndes County, Alabama, and how a well-intentioned government visit nearly shut a community's doors before a single conversation happened

• Why underneath most customer anger over a water bill is shame, not hostility, and what that means for how utilities should respond

• Why accepting a cup of coffee, a cookie, or a small kindness can matter more to trust than any talking point

• Shannon's one piece of advice for the water sector: slow down, and just listen

If you work in water communications, public engagement, or utility leadership, this conversation will change how you think about who you're serving and how you show up for them.

Connect with Shannon Kring: https://www.redqueenmedia.com Connect with Chelsea Boozer / Rogue Water Lab: https://www.roguewaterlab.com

Learn more about Catalyst 2026: catalysth2o.org

Like, subscribe, and drop a comment: what's your water story?

#MakeWaterWork #Catalyst2026 #WaterCommunications #PublicTrust #WaterIndustry #IndigenousWater #WaterIsLife

In this episode of the Catalyst Collab, hosts Isaac Pellerin and Chelsea Boozer (Rogue Water Lab) sit down with Ameerah Palacios, APR, Director of Engagement for STV's National Water practice. Ameerah has spent more than two decades helping utilities and public agencies build trust, navigate crisis, and turn complex infrastructure work into real community connection — and she pulls back the curtain on what actually separates authentic engagement from checking a compliance box.

In this episode, we cover:

• The real difference between compliance-driven outreach and authentic community engagement

• Inside the "Underwater" crisis simulation Ameerah built for Catalyst 2025 — and what it revealed about how utilities respond under pressure

• Why transparency means being honest even when you don't have all the answers yet

• Lessons from working in communities navigating deep, long-term water challenges, including Jackson, Mississippi

• Why she says "failing infrastructure," not "aging infrastructure" — and how word choice shapes public trust

• Message frequency, saturation, and why utilities have to keep reminding people of progress on decades-long programs like lead service line replacement

• How to leave a community "better than you found it" beyond the technical scope of a project

If you work in utility communications, public engagement, or infrastructure leadership, this conversation will change how you think about trust, transparency, and what it really means to listen.

🔗 Connect with Ameerah: linkedin.com/in/ameerah

🔗 Learn more about STV: stvinc.com

This episode is part of the Catalyst Collab, a special series featuring speakers and guides connected to Catalyst — the immersive water communications event happening August 31–September 3, 2026, in San Diego. Learn more and register at https://roguewaterlab.org/events/catalyst-2026/.

👍 If this conversation resonated, like, subscribe, and drop a comment — what's one thing you'd rethink about how your organization communicates with its community?

#WaterIndustry #PublicTrust #CrisisCommunications #WaterUtilities #CommunityEngagement #Infrastructure #StrategicCommunications #MakeWaterWork #CatalystCollab #Catalyst2026

No one wants a water main. They want clean water. No one needs a highway. They need to get their kids to school safely.

In this episode of the Make Water Work Catalyst Collab, Isaac Pellerin and Chelsea Boozer (Executive Director, Rogue Water Lab) sit down with Dr. Shalini Vajjhala, Executive Director of PRE Collective, to talk about the messy, unglamorous early stage of infrastructure work that most projects skip, and why skipping it is exactly how communities end up with a bigger pump instead of a better outcome.

In this episode, we cover:

• How working in Cairo, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro during architecture school first showed Shalini that water touches everything, even when it's not the headline

• What "predevelopment" actually means, and why it gets treated like a soft cost instead of the thing that determines whether a project succeeds

• The Hoboken story: how reframing a flood resilience ask turned a $5 million pump request into a $100 million community park

• Why asking "what would it take for you to support this?" gets further than presenting a finished plan

• A masterclass in plain language, including how Shalini explained carbon sequestration to her grandmother using a coal stove and a bucket of smoke

• Why trust is built through underpromising, overdelivering, and simply telling people the truth about how long things will take

• What's ahead at Catalyst San Diego, August 31–September 3, 2026, where Shalini will be guiding a session

If you work in water infrastructure, community engagement, or utility leadership, this conversation will change how you think about the first conversation you have on your next project.

Connect with Shalini Vajjhala: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shalinivajjhala/

Learn more about PRE Collective: precollective.org

Learn more about Catalyst 2026: catalysth2o.org

Like, subscribe, and drop a comment: what's your water story?

#MakeWaterWork #Catalyst2026 #WaterInfrastructure #CommunityEngagement #ClimateResilience #WaterIndustry #PublicTrust #Predevelopment

Most professionals operate at 50 to 70 percent of their communication capacity, and they don't even know it.

In this episode of the Make Water Work Catalyst Collab, Isaac Pellerin and Chelsea Boozer (Executive Director, Rogue Water Lab) sit down with Dr. Bernard Armada, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of St. Thomas, to unpack why improv, storytelling, and vulnerability might do more for public trust than any fact sheet ever could. Bernie guided a session at Catalyst 2025 in Milwaukee that's still one of the most talked-about moments from the event, and he's back to explain the theory behind the experience.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why most communicators only use a fraction of their full range, from facial expression to language choice, and what "unlocking" the rest looks like

• What happened when 150 water professionals were asked to make goofy faces at Milwaukee City Hall, and why it worked

• How professional jargon quietly mutes the parts of communication that actually build trust

• The research behind how public memory gets shaped, whose stories get featured, and whose get left out

• Why utilities lose the narrative when a single water main break outweighs decades of quiet, reliable service

• How Bernie uses humor, listening, and a "dinner party" mindset to keep any room engaged

• Why authenticity and vulnerability are the one thing AI-generated content can't replace

• A first-hand account of Catalyst 2025 in Milwaukee, and what's ahead for Catalyst San Diego, August 31–September 3, 2026

If you work in water communications, public engagement, or utility leadership, this conversation will change how you think about the next room you have to win over.

Connect with Bernard Armada: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernard-armada-91a8a07/

Learn more about Catalyst 2026: catalysth2o.org

Like, subscribe, and drop a comment: what's your water story?

#MakeWaterWork #WaterCommunications #Catalyst2026 #PublicTrust #WaterIndustry #Improv #StrategicCommunications

Water is the environmental issue Americans care about most, so why does it still struggle to break through the news cycle?

In this episode of the Make Water Work / Catalyst Collab, Isaac Pellerin and Chelsea Boozer (Executive Director, Rogue Water Lab) sit down with Sarah Bucci, Director of Strategic Communications at The Water Hub, to unpack why water coverage gets stuck in silos, jargon, and crisis-only headlines, and what it actually takes to tell a story that sticks.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why public apathy isn't the problem, water consistently polls as the environmental issue people care about most

• How siloed categories (drinking water, stormwater, wastewater) disconnect from how people actually experience water

• Findings from the Water Hub's 2025 media scan, including a 25% drop in climate-change mentions in water supply coverage

• Why trust and relationships are a core communications function, not a soft add-on

• Behind the scenes of the Water Hub's Water Infrastructure campaign, illustrations, animation, and influencer partnerships that turned funding announcements into a bigger story

• Why data center water use is opening unexpected doors for public conversation

• A first-hand account of Catalyst 2025 in Milwaukee, and what's ahead for Catalyst San Diego, August 31–September 3, 2026

If you work in water communications, utility affairs, or public engagement, this conversation will change how you think about the stories you're not telling yet.

Connect with Sarah Bucci: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-bucci-15146820/

Learn more about the Water Hub: waterhub.org

Learn more about Catalyst 2026: catalysth2o.org

Like, subscribe, and drop a comment: what's your water story?

#MakeWaterWork #WaterCommunications #Catalyst2026 #WaterHub #PublicTrust #WaterIndustry #StrategicCommunications