Water Values Podcast

An all-star panel of water leaders participate in a roundtable discussion about what happened in the year that was 2021 and provide insights on what 2022 might hold for the water sector.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

• Each panelist’s takeaways from 2021
• Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding issues
• Why the IIJA needs to be a “down payment” on our infrastructure rather than a one-time investment
• Why our panelists are worried about small and medium sized utilities
• How larger utilities can help small and medium sized utilities
• Why access to infrastructure funds need to be simplified
• How we can help our communities understand water’s role in building our communities
• How historic underinvestment in infrastructure has and is manifesting itself
• How affordability took on an even bigger role in 2021
• Innovation and the role of technology for utilities moving forward
• Our panelists’ favorite holiday traditions

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• Cathy’s LinkedIn Page
• OJ’s LinkedIn Page
• Cindy’s LinkedIn Page

Thank You!

Thanks to each of you for listening and spreading the word about The Water Values Podcast! Keep the emails coming and please rate and review The Water Values Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher if you haven’t done so already. And don’t forget to tell your friends about the podcast and whatever you do, don’t forget to join The Water Values mailing list!

Christoph Gorder, Chief Global Water Officer, blows us away with a deep dive on charity: water and its work.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

• How Christoph transitioned from disaster relief to charity: water
• charity: water’s mission
• How charity: water’s unique structure helps it achieve success
• How charity: water overcame one of the unique fundraising challenges
• Why clean water helps reduce infant mortality rates, increase literacy rates and increase income
• How much it costs charity: water to implement a water project
• How charity: water uses technology
• What technology solutions charity: water deploys
• How the technology solutions benefit rural communities
• How climate change impacts the populations served by charity: water
• The steps charity: water takes to ensure its projects are resilient to climate change
• How charity: water interacts with governments where its projects are located
• How to get involved with charity: water

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• Christoph’s LinkedIn Page
• charity: water’s website

Thank You!

Thanks to each of you for listening and spreading the word about The Water Values Podcast! Keep the emails coming and please rate and review The Water Values Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher if you haven’t done so already. And don’t forget to tell your friends about the podcast and whatever you do, don’t forget to join The Water Values mailing list!

Alyson Watson, CEO of Woodard & Curran, delivers a tour de force performance explaining why the water industry needs a fresh approach to delivering services and advocating for an outcome based contracting approach focused on trust and empathy.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

• Alyson’s background as a “water brat”
• Alyson’s perspective on the prevailing mode of project delivery
• Why shifting to an outcome based approach makes more sense
• How risk can be shifted to the private sector to facilitate an outcome based approach 
• What needs to happen to shift to an outcome based approach
• Why trust is key to this outcome based approach
• How empathy factors into the trust equation
• How water leaders can foster outcome based contracting in their organizations
• Several case studies that demonstrate the benefits of outcome based contracting
• How outcome based approaches might have ancillary benefits, such as employee retention
• Alyson’s ideas to foster collaboration in the water industry 
• How outcome based approaches and collaboration can help combat climate change

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• Alyson’s LinkedIn Page
• Woodard & Curran’s website

Thank You!

Thanks to each of you for listening and spreading the word about The Water Values Podcast! Keep the emails coming and please rate and review The Water Values Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher if you haven’t done so already. And don’t forget to tell your friends about the podcast and whatever you do, don’t forget to join The Water Values mailing list!

Cameron was a civilian employee working on a U.S. Army base before moving to a military contractor. Cameron gives a terrific interview shining a light on water issues on military installations in this U.S. Army approved interview.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

• Cameron’s background
• Why water is important to the armed forces
• Water needs and use on military bases
• Cameron’s role as a civilian working on water issues for the U.S. Army 
• The collaboration on water issues between the military and civilians on military installations
• Water and the impact of COVID-19 on military installations
• How the military used wastewater epidemiology to build a predictive analytics model to monitor the spread of COVID-19 on military bases
• The collaboration among the local university, the civilian water team, and the military on developing the wastewater epidemiology model
• Why wastewater epidemiology models are system specific 
• Water and sustainability on military bases
• Clean water issues for field based military units  
• Cameron’s thoughts on military sustainability and resilience

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• Cameron’s LinkedIn Page
• Concurrent Technology Corporation’s website

Thank You!

Thanks to each of you for listening and spreading the word about The Water Values Podcast! Keep the emails coming and please rate and review The Water Values Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher if you haven’t done so already. And don’t forget to tell your friends about the podcast and whatever you do, don’t forget to join The Water Values mailing list!

James Eklund returns to The Water Values Podcast for a third time to provide an argument for why demand management is critical to the future of the Colorado River.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

• What James has been up to since his last podcast appearance
• A brief history of the Colorado River Compact
• How the Upper Basin and Lower Basin came to be
• How climate change has impacted the Colorado River Compact
• What demand management is
• How demand management and water banking worked in the Lower Basin
• The creation of the water banking account in the Upper Basin
• Why demand management represents a viable solution for Upper Basin States
• How demand management can stem the proliferation of “buy and dry”
• Why demand management hasn’t taken off in the Upper Basin
• Why only sovereigns can “bank” water & the lawsuit behind it
• James’ thoughts on where we go from here on the Colorado River

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• James’ LinkedIn Page
• Eklund Hanlon’s website
• Saving the Colorado River: How Demand Management Can Save the Colorado River, article by James Eklund

Thank You!

Thanks to each of you for listening and spreading the word about The Water Values Podcast! Keep the emails coming and please rate and review The Water Values Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher if you haven’t done so already. And don’t forget to tell your friends about the podcast and whatever you do, don’t forget to join The Water Values mailing list!

Alison Adams, now Chief Technology Officer at INTERA, drove innovation at Tampa Bay Water when she helped pioneer Tampa Bay Water’s digital transformation. Alison provides firsthand knowledge about how to design a program for digital transformation, how to get employee buy in, and the benefits your utility will achieve along the way. Plus Reese Tisdale joins us for another Bluefield on Tap segment.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

Thank You!

Thanks to each of you for listening and spreading the word about The Water Values Podcast! Keep the emails coming and please rate and review The Water Values Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher if you haven’t done so already. And don’t forget to tell your friends about the podcast and whatever you do, don’t forget to join The Water Values mailing list!

Claudia Toussaint, General Counsel of Xylem, provides a terrific discussion of ESG issues from the perspective of a publicly traded corporation’s general counsel. In a nutshell, Claudia describes how little acorns of ESG can grow into mighty oaks when corporate boards use ESG to guide their business strategies.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

• Claudia’s unique background
• What ESG is from a publicly traded company’s perspective
• Why the water sector is so central to ESG issues
• How sustainability has morphed from primarily being an environmental concept to a business and social concept
• Why an entity’s business strategy needs to align with its sustainability strategy
• The ESG issues involved in the Exxon Mobil proxy fight
• Why ESG needs to be front and center for publicly traded companies (guess what – the logic applies to all businesses!)
• Why it is critical for corporate boards to have an ESG strategy
• How ESG supports a corporation’s access to capital and lowers the cost of capital
• How ESG supports a corporation’s workforce and the corporation’s strategic direction
• How businesses measure ESG
• Why Claudia thinks the water sector can lead on ESG

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• Claudia’s LinkedIn Page
• Xylem’s website
• Smart sewer technology satisfies EPA consent decree, saves city $400 million

Tom Ferguson of Imagine H2O fame and now captaining Burnt Island Ventures joins The Water Values Podcast for an engaging discussion on early stage and venture capital investing in the water sector and a big picture discussion about what the water sector needs to achieve greatness.

In this session, you’ll learn about:

• Tom’s unique story for how he landed in the water sector
• Why Tom believes that deserving companies in water typically get funded, although their paths may be disparate
• Burnt Island Venture’s “broad at seed” strategy
• The due diligence Burnt Island Ventures undertakes looking for investment opportunities
• Finding the pain point to accelerate the investment horizon
• The investment lifecycle
• Why investment diversification is important
• Burnt Island Ventures’ current “Island” (you’ll need to listen to learn what this is)
• What Tom likes about water sector investing. And what he doesn’t
• Tom’s big picture thoughts on the water sector
• Why the water industry needs to start shouting from the rooftops

Resources and links mentioned in or relevant to this session include:

• Tom’s LinkedIn Page
• Burnt Island Venture’s website
• TWV #176: The Evolution of a Water Start-Up with Dana Haasz
• TWV #165: Private Equity in the Water Sector with Cimbria Capital’s Brian Iversen

Thank You!

Thanks to each of you for listening and spreading the word about The Water Values Podcast! Keep the emails coming and please rate and review The Water Values Podcast on iTunes and Stitcher if you haven’t done so already. And don’t forget to tell your friends about the podcast and whatever you do, don’t forget to join The Water Values mailing list!