March 07, 2025

The Water Chronicles: A Journey to Understand the World’s Water Disparities

23 minutes

In this episode of Talking Under Water, Co-host Mandy Crispin chats with Kaitlin Spiridellis, a Vanderbilt University Michael B. Keegan traveling fellow. Spiridellis has worked for over three years within Vanderbilt’s Drinking Water Justice Lab and focuses on the disparities in how people experience drinking water in different communities. In the summer of 2024, she began touring various continents to gain a better understanding of the disparities in how people experience drinking water. In this episode, Crispin and Spiridellis start by discussing her trip to Latin America, and Spiridellis will be writing articles for WaterWorld on her experiences, called World of Water.

Show Notes:

World of Water

Timestamps:

Introduction & episode summary | 0:09

What motivated Kaitlin to conduct her globetrotting water study? | 0:49

The experience of locals in Mexico City | 2:25

How stormwater capture for drinking water supply becomes a critical resource | 4:33

Exploring how virtual water impacts water management in Argentina | 7:08

Chile's approach to One Water | 10:24

Governance barriers between rural and urban areas | 13:26

The cultural and gender burdens surrounding water supply and management | 17:12

Summarizing the European leg of Kaitlin's World of Water trip | 20:28

Housekeeping | 21:57

Resources:

Wastewater Digest Emerging Leaders Nomination Form

WaterWorld Emerging Leaders Nomination Form

StormCon

About the Podcast

Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management and erosion control. It is produced in coordination between Wastewater Digest (WWD), WaterWorld and Storm Water Solutions (SWS). The podcast covers topics under the One Water movement including the municipal and industrial water and wastewater, residential, storm water and erosion control markets. Talking Under Water highlights news, trends, new technologies, industry discussions and on-site interviews with experts across the municipal water industry. New episodes of the podcast are released every other week. 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. 

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