On this dispatch, we talk with Pam Kenel who is the Director of Water Resources at Loudoun Water. Loudoun Water is just west of Washington DC and provides drinking water and wastewater services to over 80,000 households in Loudoun County.

We talk about how one transatlantic data cable caused an explosion of data centers which dramatically influenced Loudon Water’s water supply. We also talk about how reusing quarries for water supply will be an important part of their future water supply and how this will be important for other water utilities on the East Coast.

Take a look at these quarries on our website. https://theoutfall.com/dispatches/water-resources-with-pam-kenel/

In this story episode of The Outfall, we talk to two researchers on the front lines of using wastewater to analyze the epidemiology of a community. Wastewater surveillance for the Coronavirus has huge potential. Data suggests that each person infected will excrete millions, if not billions of viral genomes into the wastewater per day. We learn more about why this research is so important, what is going on now, and what the future of this research looks like. 

Thanks again to our guests:

• Dr. Sean Norman, Associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of South Carolina. Learn more here.

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This week we get to travel the world with no passports or luggage. Our adventure begins in Brest, France and then we travel back in time to Hong Kong during the SARs epidemic. Our travel guide is the wonderful Vera Bin San who is a marine biologist and a friend of Amy's. P-Traps, Masks, and the French Police somehow make it into this conversation.

We have fun producing these weekly dispatches. It has made the world a bit smaller for all of us and that is a good thing. Send us a note if you want to join us for one episode.

Check out Vera on her own YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2YqZKndK7HxCnbe06ZCEuw/featured

Recorded April 9, 2020

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Freaking out? You may not be alone. We're all living in a moment of uncertainty and anxiety. One of the things we have done to help ourselves these past several weeks is to reach out to our friends in a continuing series of episodes we are calling Dispatches from our Bunkers.

This week Kara Klemm with Yoga Keowee joins us to help calm us down. As people become more anxious as they self-quarantine at home, we discuss mindful meditation, a practice that has been proven to alleviate stress, depression and insomnia, as a way to cope. People often feel discouraged when they first give meditation a try, but then again they have never tried to meditate to the sounds of an influent pump station. After our discussion, Kara leads us in three-minute meditation to the sounds of a working wastewater treatment plant. This may be a world's first.

Recorded April 2, 2020

A big thank you to Kara Klemm with Yoga Keowee. If you are nearby, please join her. You may even bump into David, Amy or I. Kara has led over 1500 hours of yoga teaching registered with the Yoga Alliance. She has instructed teacher trainings and given several specialized workshops to yoga teachers and students on the art of language, anatomy and physiology, Yoga 101, yoga nidra and meditation. She also holds a B.S. in Human Biology and Health from Cornell University has worked in medical sales, training and recruitment for the past 15 years.

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We are continuing to invite friends to join us in this series of episodes we are calling Dispatches from our Bunkers. This week David Baize Executive Director of the South Carolina Water Association joined us and discussed the behind scenes decision to cancel SCEC, South Carolina's largest water conferences in March.

Next, David Ladner quizzes us with a one-of-a-kind water quiz. Also David, or otherwise known as TSTORM2000, one of our favorite listeners joins us for a one-of-a-kind water quiz.

Recorded March 19, 2020

We appreciate all the positive feedback so far. Thank you!

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We were working on several of our normal monthly water stories, but then the pandemic hit. Instead of pausing, we decided it would be great to call each other, turn on our microphones and just hit record. We will continue to roll out our normal monthly stories and we will also supplement with this series we are calling Dispatches from our Bunkers. Today we share some personal stories and some of our favorite moments from Season 1.

This was recorded on March 19, 2020.

David brings us a personal 5-minute water short about his home town, Silver City, New Mexico. Silver City is in a big bowl that sets the stage for us to learn about its ditch. Yes, one of the town’s most endearing and characteristic features is a ditch. Not just any ditch, it’s a BIG ditch. In fact, that’s the official name: the Big Ditch. We hear directly from Silver City’s mayor, Ken Ladner. Enjoy.

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In this episode, we share a story about a series of pictures. These pictures were not ordinary. In three days they spread around the world. The story starts deep in the sewers of Charleston, South Carolina. It's pitch black and divers are feeling for an obstruction. Mike Saia, communications manager with Charleston Water System, tells us the story.

We appreciate all the positive feedback so far. Thank you! Please subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected].

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It’s been a while since we produced one of our 5-minute water shorts. Well, the wait is over. This short begins with a discovery. We found out during one of our recording sessions that David has a treasure trove of water jokes he has been posting online. You can visit it here.

Thanks again to @scotty_NoNo for joining us and teaching us a little about comedy! 

We appreciate all the positive feedback so far. Thank you! Please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected].

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In this episode, we are hunting water unicorns with Dr. Piers Clark. Piers is the founder and chairman of Isle Utilities. They have offices all over the world and what they do is help water utilities identify and adopt new technology and innovation.  

Some of the companies discussed in this episode:

• Mango Materials 

Learn more about Piers and Isle Utilities here. 

We appreciate all the positive feedback so far. Thank you! Please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. Want to contact the show? Reach out at [email protected].

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOutfall