waterloop
by Travis Loop
Latest episode
Protecting Philadelphia's Source Water | Day In The Life
Protecting Philadelphia's Source Water | Day In The Life
About this podcast
waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for sustainability and equity in water. Hosted by journalist Travis Loop, the podcast features stories from across the U.S. about water infrastructure, conservation, innovation, technology, policy, PFAS, climate resilience, and more.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 300 episodes
- Protecting Philadelphia's Source Water | Day In The LifeProtecting Philadelphia’s drinking water means looking far beyond the city limits. With 98% of the Schuylkill River watershed outside Philadelphia, keeping pollution away from…
- Screening Out Problems Between Source and TreatmentGetting water from underground aquifers or waterways into a treatment plant means responding to changing conditions, protecting equipment, and caring for the environment at the…
- Less Downtime By Design: Inside The Innovation Of A Chemical PumpRoutine pump maintenance can interrupt chemical feed and consume time that water treatment operators already have too little of. Designing around that reality means looking…
- Getting More From The Pipes We Already Have · 16 minPipes for water systems can lose capacity or go uninspected for decades, leaving utilities with an incomplete picture of what their infrastructure can deliver. This episode looks…
- Turning NASA Data Into ActionWhat if a farmer, conservation manager, or utility operator could question decades of NASA water data in plain language—and get information tailored to a real decision? Rebecca…
- The Chemistry Eating Our Sewers · 14 minWhat’s actually eating away at the concrete inside our sewer systems? The answer takes us into a world of bacteria, sulfuric acid, and chemical reactions happening beneath our…
- AI Moves From Answers To Action · 18 minAfter years of collecting and organizing data, the water sector appears to be reaching a turning point: AI is helping utilities put that information to work proactively. In this…
- Finding Dollars For Drops | Resilience In The Rockies · 30 minSaving water is one challenge; finding the money to build conservation projects is another. The fourth episode of Resilience In The Rockies examines how Colorado communities are…
- Connecting People To Conservation | Resilience In The Rockies · 36 minColorado communities are treating public engagement as water infrastructure, using trusted messengers, targeted outreach, and practical programs to turn conservation strategies…
- The Dramatic Drop In American Home Water Use · 20 minIndoor residential water use in American homes has fallen 44 percent over three decades, as more efficient fixtures and appliances allow people to perform the same daily tasks…
- Governing For Gallons In Colorado | Resilience In The Rockies · 27 minPolicy is becoming a water-supply tool in Colorado, as local governments use development codes, financing rules, and workforce requirements to reduce demand. The second episode…
- Take A Tour Of Manufacturing Innovation In America · 26 minBringing research, prototyping, production, and shipping under one roof can turn American manufacturing into a faster engine for water innovation. Rob Gledhill, CEO of Blue-White…
- Milwaukee's Path From Industrial Roots To Innovation Hub · 23 minMilwaukee’s water technology economy traces back roughly 150 years to breweries, tanneries, and meatpacking plants that created sustained demand for pumps, valves, meters, and…
- Rethinking Colorado Lawns | Resilience In The Rockies · 42 minColorado communities adapting to the long-term strain on water supplies in the arid West are turning one of their largest demands—the irrigated landscape—into a source of new…
- The Fight Against Lead: From Flint to 2037 · 30 minA dozen years after the Flint water crisis galvanized national action on lead pipes, the United States has moved from scattered voluntary replacement efforts to a federal mandate…
- Avoiding The Constant Infrastructure Triage · 26 minWater utilities may never escape the need to triage infrastructure, but better data, design, and monitoring can reduce the constant churn of reactive responses. In this episode…
- The Digital Shift: From Reactive To Proactive · 26 minDigital systems, increasingly strengthened by artificial intelligence, are helping water utilities move from reacting to failures toward anticipating where infrastructure…
- AI As The Water Operator's Copilot · 16 minWater utilities are rich in data but often struggle to turn decades of information into decisions that improve daily operations. In this episode, Travis Wagner of Trinnex…
- Keeping Up With PFAS Rules · 21 minPFAS regulation now has more moving parts, deadlines, and compliance pathways than ever, but the bottom-line advice for water utilities is simple: keep moving. In this episode…
- Entering An Era Of Advanced Water Treatment · 14 minAdvanced water treatment is entering a new era. Utilities are moving beyond conventional treatment to tackle PFAS, expand water reuse, and secure new water supplies. That often…
- A Common Framework For Corporate Water Reporting · 33 minWater has become one of the biggest blind spots in corporate sustainability reporting, with companies measuring and disclosing water use in vastly different ways. In this…
- The Water Reality In Data Center Alley · 22 minLoudoun County, Virginia is known as Data Center Alley, the longtime epicenter of the data center industry and home to one of the world's largest concentrations of digital…
- The Water Cost Of The Cloud: Amazon Discusses Data Centers · 32 minThe impact of data centers is currently one of the most discussed issues in water. In this episode, Will Hewes, Water Sustainability Lead for Amazon, shares how one of the…
- A $2 Trillion Wake-Up Call For Drinking Water · 18 minA landmark new report from the American Water Works Association estimates the United States will need between $2.1 and $2.4 trillion in drinking water infrastructure investment…
- D.C.'s Rivers Go Real-Time With Sensor Network · 24 minThe rivers of Washington, D.C. are becoming living laboratories for the future of urban water stewardship, with Xylem and the Reservoir Center helping launch a new real-time…
- America's Drinking Water Pipes Built in Alabama Foundry | How Water Works · 16 minAmerica’s drinking water infrastructure depends on more than 2 million miles of pipe buried beneath streets and communities across the country. In this episode of How Water…
- Inside the Immune System of Water Infrastructure · 25 minWater utilities are quietly strengthening the “immune system” of our water infrastructure, using compliance programs and technology to prevent pollution, protect drinking water…
- A Roadmap to Bring Water to 2 Million Americans by 2040 · 47 minMore than 2 million people in the United States live without running water or a working toilet—and the true number could be far higher. It’s a crisis hidden in plain sight…
- Nanobubbles Are Transforming How Water Works · 17 minNanobubbles—microscopic pockets of gas invisible to the human eye—are emerging as a powerful tool to improve water treatment and management. In this episode of How Water Works…
- The Next 50 Years Of Safe Drinking Water · 1 h 4 minA group of top water experts is challenging one of the core assumptions behind U.S. drinking water policy—that chasing ever-smaller traces of contaminants is the best way to…
- Where Rivers Meet The Ocean: Why America's Estuaries Matter · 26 minEstuaries—places where rivers meet the ocean—are some of the most important ecosystems in the United States, supporting coastal economies, protecting communities, and serving as…
- A New Strategy: Water Is National Security · 40 minWater is emerging as a defining factor in U.S. economic growth and national security—from where data centers and energy projects can scale to how communities absorb the rising…
- Download From Davos: How Global CEOs Are Confronting Water Risk · 31 minA download from Davos reveals how water is rising on the global agenda — with business leaders, governments, and NGOs increasingly recognizing it as a critical climate and…
- Navigating Water’s New Era: Technology, Talent & Transformation · 34 minThe water sector is in the middle of a major transition, as decades-old challenges collide with powerful new technologies, workforce shifts, and rising public expectations. In…
- Will Recycling Save California's Water Future? | The Golden State of Reuse · 28 minCalifornia’s water system was built for a wetter century—and now the state is racing to turn wastewater into a reliable part of its supply portfolio. In this episode, Joaquin…
- Carrots & Sticks: How Regulations Shape Water Reuse In Sacramento · 25 minIn Sacramento, the shift to viewing wastewater as a critical resource is transforming regional water security and ecological health. In this episode, Christoph Dobson, General…
- A Check-Up On The Chesapeake: How Is Health Of The Bay? · 27 minIs the Chesapeake Bay finally turning a corner, or is restoration falling behind on its most critical deadlines? This episode provides an expert "check-up" on America’s largest…
- Industrial Water Reuse Is On The Rise: What's Driving The Change · 49 minExplosive growth in data centers, semiconductors, and power generation is driving unprecedented industrial water demand, pushing reuse from niche to necessity across the U.S. In…
- Laws As Last Line Of Defense For Chesapeake Bay · 25 minWhat happens when laws designed to protect water fail — and what legal action does it take to set things right? For decades, the health of the Chesapeake Bay has struggled…
- The Evolving Engineering Of Green Infrastructure · 32 minGreen infrastructure is reshaping how communities manage stormwater by blending natural processes with modern engineering to improve water quality, reduce flooding, and fit into…
- Protecting The Waters That Flow In Our National Parks · 27 minWater is at the heart of America’s national parks, yet many of these rivers, lakes, coasts, and wetlands are under growing stress from pollution, climate impacts, and decisions…
- Keeping the Motor Running: Inside Wastewater’s Hidden Powertrain · 19 minWastewater treatment plants rely on nonstop mechanical power to keep water moving, oxygen flowing, and critical equipment turning—and the systems behind that power are the focus…
- Community at Center of Central Coast Recycling | The Golden State of Reuse · 34 minCalifornia’s Central Coast is turning recycled water into a lifeline for rivers, golf courses, farms, and coastal communities—showing how reuse can work far beyond the big…
- Sewer Corrosion Explained: The Problem Eating Infrastructure Alive · 12 minHydrogen sulfide is the invisible gas quietly eating away at sewer systems—driving odor complaints aboveground and concrete failure below. In this episode of Inside…
- Mobilizing People Power For Great Lakes Parks · 27 minCommunities across the Midwest are navigating a complex mix of water challenges—from affordability to agricultural pollution to protecting iconic national parks—and the policies…
- Ending Sewer Odors: A New Era Of Solutions · 18 minOdor control and overflow prevention are critical yet often overlooked challenges for wastewater utilities — especially as urban areas expand and climate impacts intensify. In…
- Perspectives of Professionals on California's Recycling Renaissance | The Golden State of Reuse · 38 minCalifornia’s water recycling movement has evolved from experiments to expansion—driven by progressive regulations, proven technology, and positive public trust. In this episode…
- Why Washington Must Do More For Water · 34 minWater’s future depends on sustainable funding, bipartisan policy, and stronger public communication. In this conversation from the Reservoir Center in Washington, D.C., Adam…
- Lost in Red Tape: How STEPP Could Fix America’s Stormwater Rules · 18 minAcross the U.S., stormwater regulations form a confusing patchwork that slows innovation and complicates compliance for communities and companies alike. In this episode from…
- How Activated Carbon Cleans Water · 14 minActivated carbon is a frontline solution in the fight against PFAS and other contaminants in water. In this episode, Brandon Hamilton of Norit explains how activated carbon works…
