The Outfall Podcast

This episode concludes our conversation with Tim Cash about his adventures operating a fire tower for the US Forest Service this past year. We shift gears from talking about the lookout itself to the elements- fire, smoke, and lightning. One of the fires he experienced burned close to a million acres, which is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. To see more pictures go to the show notes here.

Since 2019, The Outfall podcast has been sharing the backstories of our water world and infrastructure worldwide. We thank you for listening and continuing to support us.

We go on the front lines of a drought from a unique vantage point—a fire tower. Tim Cash, a retired career public servant with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, shares his eye-opening adventures of operating a fire tower for the US Forest Service this past year. So how do you get to spend a summer out west in a tower? For Tim, it only took him over forty years.

Check out the show notes to see his wonderful pictures of the fire tower.

Our next episode will conclude our conversation with Tim Cash, shifting gears from talking about the lookout itself to the elements. We are talking fire, smoke, and lightning. Since 2019, The Outfall podcast has been sharing the backstories of our water world and infrastructure worldwide. We thank you for listening and continuing to support us.

In this episode, we continue the flushable wipes story originating deep under the streets of Charleston from our first season. We talk with Paul Calamita with Aqualaw about Charleston Water System’s lawsuit against seven manufacturers and retailers of wipe products.

Paul and Charleston Water System have been climbing a mountain without an established trail. How were they going to win where so many had fallen off the side of the mountain?

Visit the show notes here.

Earlier this year, we talked to a commercial diving firm, Global Diving & Salvage, Inc., to learn more about what they did. Here are five things we learned that we think you may enjoy too. The clock is ticking for this five-minute water short. 

Check out the show notes.

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.