In an increasingly thirsty world, there is much potential in desalination, the process of removing salt from seawater. But desalination has historically posed challenges - it consumes massive amounts of expensive energy, produces a waste called brine, and raises concerns about impacts on aquatic life.

So how is desalination becoming more of an option for the creation of freshwater?

That question is answered in this episode with Peter Fiske, Executive Director of the National Alliance for Water Innovation and Director of the Water-Energy Resilience Research Institute.

Peter explains how desalination is becoming more efficient and effective through innovation in membranes, technologies for handling brine, and extraction of valuable elements. He also talks about upcoming pilot projects, the role of desalination in addressing Western water scarcity, and international collaboration.

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet helping water leaders to discover solutions and drive change. Visit waterloop.org

In a recent poll, U.S. voters overwhelmingly agreed that water is a human right, clean waterways are important, and infrastructure investments are critical. While those results are encouraging, the real value of polls are in how they can be used to test language, create messages, and influence policy.

That work is discussed in this episode with Nicole Lampe of Water Hub, Yasmin Zaerpoor of PolicyLink, and Jenifer Collins of the National Wildlife Federation. They talk about opportunities to use the poll results to shape specific policies such as jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, financial assistance with water bills for low-income Americans, and the upcoming Farm Bill.

waterloop is the podcast helping water leaders to discover solutions and drive change. Visit waterloop.org

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

P3 involves a public agency partnering with a private entity on a project. A twist on the traditional public-private partnership puts the community first and focuses on its challenges and opportunities.

This approach works particularly well with green infrastructure, as discussed in this episode with Dominique Lueckenhoff, a former water official for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a Senior Fellow at the US Water Alliance.

Dominique talks about the creation of community based P3s to advance green infrastructure as part of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, beginning in Prince George’s County, Maryland. She also explains how Chester, Pennsylvania used the formula to establish a stormwater utility.

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet featuring conversations about solutions and science. Visit waterloop.org

2022 is the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which fundamentally changed regulation and management of water resources in the U.S. The Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual was created to help people understand and use the law to reduce pollution. The tool is discussed in this episode with Katherine Baer, Vice President of River Programs at the River Network, and Matt Rota, Senior Policy Director at Healthy Gulf. Katherine and Matt talk about how citizens own the Clean Water Act, using the owner’s manual to tackle specific problems, and the addition of climate change and environmental justice to the version released for the 50th anniversary.

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet featuring conversations about water solutions and science. Visit waterloop.org

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

Algae blooms that pollute waterways, produce toxins, and cause dead zones are one of the most widespread and challenging environmental problems in the U.S. Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural land is the leading fuel for the algae blooms, but efforts to reduce the nutrient pollution from farms have largely been unsuccessful.

In this episode, Dr. Donald Boesch, President Emeritus of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, says it’s time to change the approach and create a national strategy for regulating agriculture pollution. Don talks about approaches for reducing the use of fertilizers, paying farmers for performance, stopping production of corn-based ethanol, and improving water quality as part of fighting climate change.

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet featuring conversations about solutions and science. Visit waterloop.org

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

Problems of environmental justice and water equity haven’t historically received proper coverage by traditional media. And if they did get in the news, chances are the reporter didn’t look like the impacted population. That’s changing in Baltimore and around the Chesapeake Bay, where a nonprofit is helping young people in communities of color to tell their stories. The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative is discussed in this episode with its Co-Founders, Donzell Brown and Rona Kobell.

They talk about teaching students from the city about environmental justice and how to produce stories about the issues. Donzell and Rona hope that the skills and experience the young people gain enable them to be effective advocates and potentially journalists for larger new outlets.

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet. Visit waterloop.org

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

Despite the direct and often disproportionate impacts of water problems on Latinos in California, there was historically a lack of water knowledge and advocacy by the leaders in their communities. That led to the creation of an organization to educate and motivate Latino local elected officials across the state. This level of government is the closest to the people and the solutions, as discussed in this episode with Victor Griego, President and Founder of Water Education For Latino Leaders.

Victor explains how the organization focuses on inspiring Latino leaders to care about water issues and giving them the leadership and storytelling skills necessary to create change.

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet. Visit waterloop.org

Thousands of water utilities across the U.S. are smaller and under-resourced, often leaving them consumed by daily operations and unable to take on projects to increase efficiency and reduce costs. But external experts can help these utilities to triage pressing challenges and then turn to strategic improvements, as discussed in this episode with George Hawkins, CEO and Founder of Moonshot Missions.

George talks about bringing his experience, including as the head of DC Water, and building a team to work with utilities and launch them on a path of progress. He also provides his take on infrastructure funding, consolidation, affordability, cybersecurity, and PFAS.

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet featuring conversations about solutions and science. Learn more at waterloop.org

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

Traveling presents the opportunity to make observations about many aspects of the world including about water. In this episode, waterloop host Travis Loop discusses his summer trip to Germany and a variety of ways that water caught his attention in cities such as Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich. Topics include public refill stations, bottled water in restaurants, the presence of green roofs, and river surfing.

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet. Visit waterloop.org

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool in the fight to find lead water lines in the U.S., which could number up to 10 million and pose a threat to human health. The use of AI allows for much more accurate predictions of the location of lead lines by using a variety of factors such as the age of a house, size of the property, and prevalence in the area.

This approach has helped cities like Newark, Detroit, and Toledo to dramatically reduce the time and cost of finding and replacing lead lines, as discussed in this episode with Eric Scwartz, CEO and Co-Founder of BlueConduit. Eric talks about how funding from the Rockefeller Foundation is allowing BlueConduit to provide free access to an inventory tool, launch a nationwide map of lead lines, and increase outreach to under-resourced communities.

waterloop is sponsored by Varuna, the tool that provides water utilities with full system awareness and offers a new resilience dashboard that identifies internal and external risks. Learn more at Varuna.city

waterloop is a nonprofit media outlet. Visit waterloop.org