This is a story about people and a utility rising up in unbelievable circumstances where failure was not an option. We go behind the scenes and learn how the CIty of Columbia responded to cascading catastrophic failures throughout their infrastructure, and the lessons learned in the past six years. We want to thank Clint Shealy and Joey Jaco for sharing their stories.

Learn more in the show notes.

This episode is a tale about an abandoned one-of-a-kind facility recently discovered in a middle of a South Carolina river, a famous sediment transport researcher and Albert Einstein.  Yes, Albert Einstein. 

Check out the show notes to pictures of the lab and Albert Einstein.

We have talked about starting a book club since we began the podcast. Well, we finally did it. We are excited to read together as a community Cynthia Barnett’s new book, The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans.

We caught up with Cynthia to learn more about the origins of the book. Now, this is the cool part. Cynthia will join us in October to help us dig deeper into her book. We will chat with her taking thoughts and questions from you. We are excited to offer this opportunity. You can attend in person if you are in the Clemson area or virtually via Zoom. If you are interested, please sign up here.

In this episode, we talk to a YouTube superstar, Grady Hillhouse. Grady has over two million subscribers to his video channel called Practical Engineering. We learn the remarkable tale about how he started and how he has evolved. Grady also reveals for the first time a new project. Grady is leading the way and exposing others to our built world.

Learn more about Grady in our show notes.

It seems nothing we buy today is immune to supply constraints in this crazy connected world, including new water Infrastructure. For example, pipes sometimes can be hard to find depending on the size and material, and costs are increasing daily. This episode swims upstream in the pipe supply chain to find out why. 

Show notes can be found here.

John Woodruff spent six years building an oasis. He made it without blueprints but had a vision of a water-filled oasis with plants and trees of all varieties, fish, and a mini-golf course carved through solid canyon walls eons ago. We hear about his remarkable journey, learn about how he uses water, and we even learn about the mini-golf craze of 1931.

Check out the show notes here for pictures of his course.

On this episode:

• We talk to artist Mary Edna Fraser, an internationally renowned artist. She has done some largest batik works to date by one artist.

Sometimes, in looking so closely at what we do, we can miss the beauty and power that water has.

Read more in the show notes.

The wonderful Christina Rae Butler, author of the recently published book titled Lowcountry at High Tide: A History of Flooding, Drainage, and Reclamation in Charleston, South Carolina joins us. She spent close to a decade writing this first-ever book about the topographic evolution of Charleston.

In this episode of The Outfall, Christina explains how compacted material or fill physically transformed the peninsula. Wild stories and history hide under the streets and buildings of Charleston.

For more information see the show notes here.

Subscribe to our newsletter here.

It’s that time of year again. We have been working hard and next week we’re bringing you a brand new season of The Outfall. Season 3. We will explore more and laugh more. Thank you for your continued support. The first episode drops next Friday, April 9th.

Aquaponics is the union of hydroponics (growing plants without soil) and aquaculture (farming fish or other aquatic organisms). This combination produces both plant and fish crops from a minimal footprint. This is a perfect solution. Right?

In this five-minute water short, we try to answer why we don’t see more of these aquaponic systems.

Learn more and see some pictures from our visit here.