(don't)Waste WaterSubscribe

The Dear Link Between Water, SDGs and our Everyday Lives

Featured - Kevin Sofen - SDG Talks - There's a Water Impact all over the SDGs

When it comes to Sustainable Development Goals, we often limit Water to SDG 6. Yet, water plays a key role in many more of them! Let’s explore it:

with πŸŽ™οΈ Kevin Sofen – Director of Innovation at W. S. Darley & Co., Host of the Smart Firefighting podcast, and Co-Host of the SDG Talks Podcast.

πŸ’§ The SDG Talks podcast highlights Change Makers and their work towards the UN SDGs with a sound passion for highlighting people and organizations that will transform the world into a better place for everyone.

This episode is part of my Series on the Water Crisis in America

Read more

We Want You! Will You Help Closing the Water Gap and Save Lives?

Featured - George McGraw - DigDeep - Millions Without Water in the US - Closing the Water Gap

2.2 million Americans don’t have access to water and wastewater services in their homes. 44 million more recently experienced water quality issues. Isn’t it time to effectively close the water gap?

The first step to closing is probably acknowledging: an information mission that’s been taken on by DigDeep. Today, we’ll explore how they act to help populations we’ve left behind for too long. Are you wondering how you could help, too? Let’s explore:

with πŸŽ™οΈ George McGraw – CEO & Founder of DigDeep

πŸ’§ DigDeep is a human rights nonprofit serving the 2.2 million+ Americans without the sinks, bathtubs, or toilets that the rest of the US takes for granted.

This episode is part of my Series on the Water Crisis in America

Read more

How to Make Water more attractive than the Apple and Samsungs of this World

Featured - Errick Simmons - Greenville Mississippi - Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative

We’ve been regularly touching on how we’re facing an aging water infrastructure: and so is the water workforce as well! In light of the “silver wave,” we currently experience, how can we transform the water industry to attract new, diverse and dynamic talents?

This age and knowledge pyramid problem is of particular concern when you’re administrating a mid-sized or rural infrastructure. Hence today’s episode promises to be a fascinating exploration:

with πŸŽ™οΈ Errick Simmons – Mayor of Greenville, Mississippi, and co-chair of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.

πŸ’§ The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative works to improve the river’s water quality, restore its habitat, coordinate the state’s efforts, create sustainable economies around the basin, and celebrate the river’s culture and history.

This episode is part of my Series on the Water Crisis in America

Read more

How to Make a Lonely Water Professional’s Mentor, Friend, and Caring Colleague

Featured - Trace Blackmore - Scaling Up H2O - Bring Water Professionals Together

The job of a Water Professional can be lonely: in many utilities, water treaters are on their own – or not far from it. But to keep you growing as a person, a certain friend has your back, your favorite water podcast.

Don’t worry; this one is not about bragging (as much as I praise my water podcast, I’m not that selfish yet!). It’s all about getting to know better one of the legends of that game:

with πŸŽ™οΈ Trace Blackmore – Owner of Blackmore Enterprises and Host of the β€œScaling Up! H2O” podcast

πŸ’§ The “Scaling Up! H2O” podcast intends to prove to you every week why working in Industrial Water Treatment is the best job in the world.

Read more

How to take Mid-Market Green Tech Companies to the Next Level?

Featured - James Rees - Botanical Water Technologies - Growing Green Tech Companies

Our World is facing new water challenges that will be hard to solve with old solutions only. This means that helping new entrants and mid-market green tech companies to thrive is also the best segway to putting their impact on steroids!

But navigating the jungle of finance, investment, regulations, institutions, and existing business canvas can be tough. Yet no one ever said you couldn’t get some help, as we’ll explore:

with πŸŽ™οΈ James Rees – Chief Impact Officer at Botanical Water Technologies and Board Advisor at Bluerloop, Droople, and Noverram.

πŸ’§ Botanical Water Technologies strives to positively impact water scarcity by providing a new source of drinkable, sustainable, plant-based water for social and environmental projects.

This episode is part of my Series on the Water Crisis in America

Read more

Pre-Disaster Mitigation Needs to Quickly Ramp Up in the US. Will it?

Featured - Nick Shufro - Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration - Pre Disaster Mitigation

With only 9 million households that hold an insurance policy against flood risks, the most common and costly natural catastrophe is still widely undercovered in the US. Will the new federal efforts finally open the long-awaited age of pre-disaster mitigation?

with πŸŽ™οΈ Nick Shufro – Deputy Assistant Administrator, Federal Insurance & Mitigation Administration, Resilience, FEMA

πŸ’§ The Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA) manages the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and a range of programs designed to mitigate against future losses from all hazards, including floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters.

This episode is part of my Series on the Water Crisis in America

Read more

The Underestimated Hidden Threat of Biomethane Production. Time to Act?

Featured - Semra Bakkaloglu - Imperial College London - Biomethane Production Leaks to the Atmosphere

What’s about 28 times more concerning than carbon emissions? Methane releases into the atmosphere. It’s the same amount of carbon but with a much higher immediate global warming impact. Hence the concern when a recent study shows how we underestimate the emissions of biomethane production by a factor of two!

What’s wrong with the biomethane supply chain? Where does it leak the most? Who are these 5% of bad pupils responsible for over 60% of the emissions? What can we do about it? Let’s explore:

with πŸŽ™οΈ Semra Bakkaloglu – Research Associate at the Imperial College of London

πŸ’§ Semra recently showed in her research how the methane emissions along the biosolids supply chain were vastly underestimated and proposed straightforward actions to correct it swiftly.

Read more

How to Actually Fight Big Water with Pioneering Bottled Rainwater?

Featured - Taylor O'Neil - Richard's Rainwater - Bottled Rainwater

Rainwater Harvesting just got an all-new flavor, and it’s sparkling! Indeed, next to the conventional approaches where that water would be used for irrigation, Richard’s Rainwater kinda created a new market segment: bottled rainwater.

How can you fight Big Water by actually putting water in cans and bottles? How’s that approach greener and more sustainable? What could it unlock in the long term? We covered this:

with πŸŽ™οΈ Taylor O’Neil – CEO of Richard’s Rainwater.

πŸ’§ Richard’s Rainwater markets what it claims to be “The Water of Tomorrow,” aka Bottled Rainwater!

This episode is part of my Series on the Water Crisis in America

Read more

Seth Siegel: 50’000+ US Water Utilities, 500 Water Talks, 5 Decisive Truths?

Featured - Seth Siegel - Troubled Water - Let There be Water

Seth Siegel is a voice that counts in the Water World – having published some of the most influential water books of the past decade and spoken on every scene you can think of.

Yet, in every keynote he delivers, he never fails to captivate the audience to convey his message home. There’s something wrong with what we drink, the way we manage our water, and the allocation of the precious blue resource. And there’s a better way around: simply replicate what works! That’s far too much to pack in 30 minutes? For sure, yet I tried ⬇️

with πŸŽ™οΈ Seth Siegel – writer, lawyer, activist, serial entrepreneur, and an acclaimed public speaker.

πŸ’§ You might have read his “Troubled Water” book – and if you haven’t, you should – or his international best-seller “Let there be Water,” translated into 20+ languages.

This episode is part of my Series on the Water Crisis in America

Read more

Expensive, Heavy but Desperately Needed: is Source the Future of Drinking Water?

Featured - Colin Goddard - Source Global - Atmospheric Water Generation

SOURCE Global raised a US$130M Series D in 2022 to scale its solar-powered Hydropanels, a system that makes drinking water from ambient air entirely off-grid. Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the round, two years after BlackRock backed a US$50M Series C aimed at communities the centralized grid never reached.

Update: this conversation is from 2022. Four years on, SOURCE has gone quiet and effectively died. I broke down exactly what went wrong in how SOURCE Global lost everything in just 12 months.

We’ll explore today how even in the US, no less than 44 million people may need to find a solution to fix their tap, and try to evaluate how Source could fit in the role!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Colin Goddard – Director at Source Global

πŸ’§ Source aims to market the world’s first renewable drinking water system. Clean, safe, made entirely off-grid, and available almost anywhere in the world.

Read more

How will the Trial Reservoir Change Piloting Forever and For Good?

Isle Utilities runs the Trial Reservoir, a pot of money that funds water-technology pilots and is repaid only when a utility agrees to adopt the technology if the trial succeeds. The United Kingdom consultancy, founded in 2012, ties pilot funding directly to adoption, the step where most water innovation stalls.

What would it enable if water entrepreneurs could deploy their best ideas in weeks instead of decades? That’s what we’ll explore today (and how that’s even possible)…

with πŸŽ™οΈ Piers Clark – Chairman and Founder of Isle Utilities

πŸ’§ Isle Utilities aims to bring new technologies to life by connecting expertise, investment, and inspired ideas across the globe.

Read more

What if your Microbial Fuel Cells could Reach Out on Twitter?

Featured - Carol Maxwell - Brent Solina - MICROrganic Technologies - Microbial Fuel Cells

Microbial Fuel Cells represent a tremendous opportunity to tap into the hidden energy of wastewater. But beyond that, they could also turn the way we operate our plants on its head!

What if your microorganisms told you live and 24/7 how they feel and what your effluent looks like?

with πŸŽ™οΈ Carol Maxwell – CEO & Director of MICROrganic Technologies and a Founding Member of ENYA Funds 1, 2, &3

with πŸŽ™οΈ Brent Solina – CTO of MICROrganic Technologies

πŸ’§ MICROrganic Technologies builds a Microbial Fuel Cell platform that aims to change the way the world deals with wastewater.

Read more

How to Admit, Value, and actually Overcome the Economic Risk of Water

Featured - Nicola Lei Ravello - White Stag Investing - Water is an Economic Risk

Water may well represent less than 1% of the World’s GDP, but it heavily affects the other 99%, turning it into a major economic risk.

Why and How? Let’s review!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Nicola Lei Ravello – Author and Founder of White Stag Investing

πŸ’§ White Stag Investing is a research platform for responsible investments, focusing on sustainability as a source of value and stability in the long term.

Read more

How to Build the World Leading Water Innovation Accelerator: Imagine H2O

Featured - Scott Bryan - Imagine H2O - Water Innovation Accelerator

Imagine H2O is a non-profit water innovation accelerator founded in 2009 out of Harvard Business School and run from San Francisco. It began as a business plan competition, then evolved to help water startups win customers and capital, and to push utilities toward faster technology adoption. The organization invests directly too, recently co-investing US$875K in CivilGrid.

Why and How? Let’s review!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Scott Bryan – President of Imagine H2O

πŸ’§ Imagine H2O is the world leading Water Innovation Accelerator with $800+M raised in early-stage funding and 1.1 billion people (and counting) served.

Read more

How to Mitigate 4 Shades of Water Risk Through Impact Investing

Featured - John Robinson - Mazarine Ventures - Impact Investment - Water Risk

Mazarine Ventures treats water as a risk to underwrite, deploying a US$60M impact fund into early-stage startups that cut water quality and quantity exposure across industrial and municipal value chains. The Chicago venture firm, founded in 2018, writes pre-seed and seed checks and backs founders whose tools let any customer measure their own water risk.

Why and How? Let’s review!

with πŸŽ™οΈ John Robinson – Partner & Co-Founder at Mazarine Ventures

πŸ’§ Mazarine is an impact investor backing young technology companies with innovations that address some aspects of water risk, including quality and quantity.

Read more

Passing the Baton: How to Bring Innovation to Market Faster & More Reliably

Featured - Sivan Zamir - Xylem Innovation Labs - Bring Innovation to Market

Xylem Innovation Labs brings outside water technology to market through two tracks, accelerating early-stage startups and signing later-stage ones to reseller, licensing, and white-label deals that route their products through Xylem’s own sales channels. The labs sit inside Xylem, a roughly US$8.6 billion water company that has bought 22 businesses since 2012, so partnering to reach customers marks a deliberate second lane alongside acquiring.

Why and How? Let’s review!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Sivan Zamir – VP Xylem Innovation Labs

πŸ’§ Xylem is one of the largest water and wastewater technology company globally and follows the simple motto: “Let’s solve water”

Read more

How to Save over 1 Million Tons of CO2 Every Year with Thermal Hydrolysis

Featured - Eirik Fadnes - Cambi Group - Thermal Hydrolysis

Cambi runs the thermal hydrolysis process (THP), high-pressure steam that breaks down sewage sludge before digestion so wastewater plants make more biogas and far less biosolids. The Norwegian firm trades on Euronext Oslo as CAMBI.OL and acquired the Veolia Water Technologies thermal hydrolysis portfolio in 2022, consolidating the technology it pioneered.

What’s inside these appealing thermal hydrolysis processes? Let’s review!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Eirik Fadnes – CEO at Cambi Group

πŸ’§ Cambi is on a mission to turn sludge into resources thanks to Thermal Hydrolysis Processes (THP)

Read more

Radical Collaboration: 12 Staggering Ideas to Regenerate the Water World

Radical Collaboration for Regeneration

BlueTech Forum 2022’s Theme was straightforward: Radical Collaboration for Regeneration. I got to chat with 6 industry leaders about their take at the matter!

with:

πŸŽ™οΈ Menno Holterman (President & CEO @ Nijhuis Saur Industries)

πŸŽ™οΈ Snehal Desai (EVP & Chief Growth and Sustainability Officer @ Evoqua Water Technologies)

πŸŽ™οΈ Ralph Exton (Chief Marketing & Chief Digital Officer @ SUEZ – Water Technologies & Solutions)

πŸŽ™οΈ Kimberly Kupiecki (Director & Global Leader Sustainability ESG, Advocacy, Communications @ DuPont)

πŸŽ™οΈ Jon LIberzon (VP & Head of Business Development @ Tomorrow Water)

πŸŽ™οΈ Kamakshi Sharma (Director of Marketing and Strategy @ Aquatech International)

Read more

How to be Alone, Early, Crazy but Actually Right: The History of Zenon

Featured - Andrew Benedek - Zenon - Anaergia - From Lonely Prophet to Water Industry Legend

ZENON Environmental sold to General Electric for US$689M in 2006, an all-cash exit that capped the Canadian membrane pioneer’s 26-year run under founder Andrew Benedek. His ZeeWeed hollow-fiber technology, generating roughly US$210M in revenue at the sale, seeded today’s multi-billion-dollar membrane bioreactor market.

with πŸŽ™οΈ Andrew Benedek, Executive Chairman of Anaergia, founder of Zenon and CEO for 26 years, a former member of the IWA board, and the inaugural recipient of the Lee Kwan Yew Prize.

πŸ’§ Anaergia aims to convert waste into useful resources, protect the environment, and sustain life for generations to come. Where some see waste, they see resources.

Read more

Can Lithium Mining Astoundingly solve the Brine Riddle with Benefits?

Lithium Mining is expected to deliver the lithium-ion battery industry 500’000 metric tons a year. Sure, conventional lithium supply will grow by 300% over the next decade but that will still not be sufficient! Hence, it might be an opportunity to get creative and to look for lithium in… water. How? Let’s review.

with πŸŽ™οΈ Benjamin Sparrow – CEO and Co-Founder at Saltworks Technologies

πŸ’§ Saltworks provides innovative products and solutions for industrial wastewater treatment and desalination.

Read more

Why is One Water the Best Way to Manage our Vulnerable Water Cycle?

Featured - Susan Moisio - Jacobs - One Water

Jacobs Engineering Group runs an estimated US$3.7 billion water business as a single connected system, its One Water approach uniting drinking water, wastewater, conveyance, and industrial water under one global team instead of treating each in isolation. The NYSE-listed firm frames that integrated water-cycle management as the spine of any credible climate response, since flooding, drought, and reuse pressures move through all of it.

with πŸŽ™οΈ Susan Moisio – Global Water Director at Jacobs, where she leads a team of 9,000 water professionals across all regions.

πŸ’§ Jacobs pledges to push the limits of what’s possible, continually challenging today to reinvent tomorrow.

Read more

How Water UK intends to Reach a Good Net Zero, Two Decades Early!

When it comes to the race to net zero water, Water UK leads the charge. Not only did it set ambitious goals, but also in a quite timely manner: the routemap leads to 2030! The cherry on that cake? It’s not only about “net zero.” They’re before and above all aiming for a GOOD one.

with πŸŽ™οΈ Maria Manidaki – Net Zero Technical Lead and Principal Water Investment Planning Advisor at Mott MacDonald

πŸ’§ Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management, and development consultancy, that places social outcomes at the center of all it does.

Read more

How to ensure Energy and Carbon Resilient projects with a Simple Screening Tool

Featured - Stephane Bessadi - Asian Development Bank - Screening Tool for the Energy Evaluation of Projects

The Asian Development Bank has put together a Screening Tool for the Energy Evaluation of Projects. As a result, it can guarantee that the water and wastewater projects it backs are fully aligned in the race to net zero water!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Stephane Bessadi – Senior Procurement Specialist for the Asian Development Bank

πŸ’§ The Asian Development Bank (ADB) commits to a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and Pacific Region.

Read more

How to cut Wastewater’s Energy Related Carbon Emissions in Two at No Cost?

Xylem cuts wastewater carbon by attacking its biggest power draw, aeration, through Sanitaire energy-efficient aeration systems and over 4 million Flygt pumps running adaptive variable-frequency drives. The New York Stock Exchange-listed (NYSE: XYL) supplier backs these with 43 audited water-treatment product lines across pumping, biological treatment, and digital optimization.

with πŸŽ™οΈ Austin Alexander – Vice President, Sustainability and Social Impact at Xylem

πŸ’§ Xylem is a leading water technology company with the famous “solving water” motto – and a finalist for this year’s Net Zero Carbon Award at the Global Water Summit

Read more

Who will become the US’s first Water Reuse Champion Ever?

Featured - Jon Freedman - SUEZ WTS - Water Reuse Champion

What levers can you play on to promote greater water reuse? Well, you can act on the money side of the equation, for instance, by incentivizing the deployment of new technologies through grants and loans. But also by making the wrong behavior more expensive. Wanna find out more? Let’s review it…

with πŸŽ™οΈJon Freedman – Senior Vice President – Global Government Affairs at SUEZ WTS

πŸ’§ SUEZ WTS provides industry-leading water technology and process expertise to solve the toughest water, wastewater, and process challenges

Read more

3 Crazy Simple Tips to take the Bore out of Business Meetings or Water Conferences

Featured - Annyse Balkwill - Take the Bore Out of Water Conferences and Business Meetings - The Luminus Group - BlueTech Forum

Have you ever attended a business meeting that seemed to drain your soul out of your body? Or happily slept in a water conference, to digest the jet lag and be in a good shape for the real conference content, aka the late drinks at the

with πŸŽ™οΈ Annyse Balkwill – Founder of the LuminUS Group and Program Director for the upcoming BlueTech Forum

πŸ’§ The LuminUS Group crafts an events formula that has participants engaging, again and again, sharing with their colleagues and offering this feedback. Wanna see it applied? Make sure to attend the upcoming BlueTech Forum!

Read more

How to Save Time, Money, and Water thanks to 92% Accurate Leak Detection

Featured - Victoria Edwards - FIDO Tech - Accurate Leak Detection - Artificial Intelligence

with πŸŽ™οΈ Victoria Edwards – CEO & Co-Founder of FIDO Tech

FIDO Tech detects water-network leaks at over 92% accuracy using a sensor-agnostic artificial-intelligence engine trained on 2.4 million field recordings. The system finds each leak, sizes it, and ranks it for repair, filtering the false positives that send utility crews on dry digs and attacking the non-revenue water lost across distribution networks.

Read more

The 7 Secrets of the Water Company of the Year you shall Absolutely Steal!

Featured - Reinhard Huebner - SKion Water - 7 Secrets of the Water Company of the Year

SKion Water built the 2021 Water Company of the Year by acquiring water-technology firms worldwide, closing 20 acquisitions between 2012 and 2023. Its flagship move privatized Canadian player Ovivo for US$141.6 million in 2016, a deal it ran with Quebec pension fund CDPQ and no investment bank.

πŸ’§ SKion Water is an international water technology platform, that aims to empower water technology companies to make a difference.

Update, June 2026: this story kept compounding. Three years, a $1.4 billion turnover milestone, and one $1.8 billion carve-out later, I replayed all of Reinhard’s tapes against my deal database.

Read more

Is the Hydrogen Economy actually an Astounding Investment Opportunity?

with πŸŽ™οΈ Alena Fargere, Principal at SWEN Capital Partners and co-founder of the first European investment fund dedicated to renewable gases.

πŸ’§ SWEN Capital Partners, a benchmark player in sustainable investments in private equity, just announced the first closing of its second SWEN Impact Fund for Transition (SWIFT 2). It will be a direct contribution to decarbonizing the economy and creating jobs in France.

Read more

The Best Industrial Wastewater Treatment System Is The One You Forget

Jonathan Rhone - Axine Water Technologies - Industrial Wastewater Treatment - Featured

with πŸŽ™οΈ Jonathan Rhone, President, and CEO of Axine Water Technologies 

Axine Water Technologies owns, operates, and guarantees the on-site electrochemical oxidation systems that destroy the toughest organics in industrial wastewater, a treatment-as-a-service model that drew a US$15M strategic investment from water-instrument maker Veralto in 2024. Plant operators never run the process themselves, which is the point: the best industrial wastewater system is the one a company can forget.

Read more

Is Supercritical Water Oxidation a Solution for PFAS, Energy (& More)?

Featured - Kobe Nagar - 374Water - Supercritical Water Oxidation - SCWO

with πŸŽ™οΈ Kobe Nagar, CEO & Co-Founder at 374Water 

374Water destroys PFAS and other organics at over 99.99 percent using supercritical water oxidation (SCWO), pushing waste past water’s critical point at 374 degrees Celsius where contaminants mineralize in 4 to 40 seconds. Its containerized AirSCWO AS6 reactor runs energy positive, tapping the chemical energy in sludge to sustain the reaction and generate power at scale.

Read more

Could We Please Stop Burning Industrial Wastewater? This is Much Better!

Featured - Steven De Laet - Inopsys - Industrial Wastewater Treatment

with πŸŽ™οΈ Steven De Laet, CEO & Founder of Inopsys 

InOpSys treats hazardous pharmaceutical and chemical wastewater on-site as a one-to-one replacement for incineration, recovering palladium, zinc, and other valuable materials, and was acquired by Indaver in 2024. The Belgian scale-up, founded in 2015, raised US$9.2 million across two rounds to scale its pay-per-use Plant-on-a-Truck model.

Read more

How to Use a Costly Material to bring Membrane Treatment Costs Down

Sebastian Andreassen - Featured - Cembrane - Ovivo - SKion Water

with πŸŽ™οΈ Sebastian Andreassen, CCO, Director and Co-Founder of Cembrane

Cembrane makes silicon carbide ceramic membranes that turn an expensive material into the lower-cost choice for water treatment, running at high flux where polymer membranes foul and clog. Founded in Denmark in 2014, the company was acquired by Ovivo in 2021 to scale module production across Europe and North America.

Read more

Four Successful Exits and Counting: What’s next, disrupting UV Disinfection?

with πŸŽ™οΈ Wayne Byrne, CEO of Typhon Treatment Systems

Typhon Treatment Systems raised US$5.0M in 2019 to scale mercury-free ultraviolet LED (UV-LED) disinfection reactors and run the world’s largest UV-LED installation with United Utilities, an ambitious bid to unseat the vapor-mercury lamps the water sector had relied on for 25 years. The Ireland-based startup, founded in 2014, is now defunct, dead in the commercialization chasm between a proven pilot and scaled adoption.

Read more

The Best Insights of the Internet of Water might not be Where you Think

Ramzi Bouzerda - Droople - Internet of Water - S4E8

with πŸŽ™οΈ Ramzi Bouzerda, CEO and founder of Droople

Droople is a Swiss water-intelligence company that has raised US$4.2M since 2021 to digitize the last mile utilities leave blind, the point-of-use assets sitting past the main meter of any building. Its sensor-agnostic iLink edge device converts raw flow data into leak detection and predictive maintenance insight, the foundation of what Droople calls the Internet of Water.

Read more

18 Months Left to “Close the Gap”: Beware, the Water Clock is Ticking!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Mina Guli, CEO and Co-Founder of the Thirst Foundation, Director of the Antarctic Science Foundation, Director of the Global Water Partnership and Adventurer.

πŸ’§ The Thirst Foundation is dedicated to getting the global water crisis to the top of the agenda and driving innovation to use less water every day.

Read more

Central Water Management Networks won’t Handle 2050. Time for an Epic Move?

with πŸŽ™οΈ Aaron Tartakovsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Epic Cleantec  

Epic Cleantec has raised US$24.0M to recycle a building’s own wastewater into onsite water reuse for toilet flushing, cooling towers, and irrigation, treating greywater and blackwater where they are produced instead of piping them to a central plant. The San Francisco company runs this distributed treatment to relieve centralized networks as most of humanity moves into cities by 2050.

Read more

Solid, Liquid, Gas, And… A Fourth Phase of Water?!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Gerald Pollack, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, Founding Editor-in-Chief of the WATER research journal, Executive Director of the Institute for Venture Science, and Author of – among other books – “The Fourth Phase of Water.”   

πŸ’§ The 4th Phase of Water, or Exclusion Water, is a semi-liquid or crystalline state of water that forms at the interface with hydrophilic surfaces. More on that in a second!

Read more

How to treat PFAS out of Water and protect our Health, Economy, and Biodiversity

with πŸŽ™οΈ Henrik Hagemann is the CEO and Co-Founder of Puraffinity. Β Β 

Puraffinity strips PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) from contaminated water using a bio-based adsorbent media that selectively binds the forever chemicals conventional filters let through. The UK company has raised US$26.07M across a 2019 seed and two Series A rounds, scaling the material from lab tests toward drinking-water and industrial treatment.

Read more

Do Nature-Based Solutions Work? These New Case Studies Will Verify It!

with πŸŽ™οΈ Silvana Di Sabatino, Professor of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Bologna, and coordinator of the OPERANDUM project.   

πŸ’§ The OPERANDUM Project aims at delivering the tools and methods for the validation of Nature-Based Solutions as a way to enhance resilience in European rural and natural territories by reducing hydro-meteorological risks.

Read more

Can Nature-Based Solutions Better Protect Cities from Soaring Environmental Risks?

with πŸŽ™οΈ Marc Barra, Urban Ecologist specializing in nature-based solutions at Paris’ Agency for Biodiversity, in charge of the H2020 REGREEN project.  

πŸ’§ The REGREEN Project promotes urban livability through fostering nature-based solutions in Europe and China using evidence-based tools and improved urban governance to accelerate the transition towards green, equitable and healthy cities.

Read more

The Magical Substance You Need to Green a Desert Actually Comes from Antarctica

Abdulla Alshehhi - Guest of the Don't Waste Water podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Abdulla Alshehhi, Managing Director of National Advisor Bureau Limited, CEO of Q2 General Cleaning, and Business Support Section Head at GASCO 

πŸ’§ National Advisor Bureau Limited leverages creativity and innovation to be a leading Consultant Firm For start-up businesses & Established Companies

Read more

3 Paths to Reach SDG 6 by 2050: All Our Hopes are on #3!

David Lloyd Owen - Guest of the Don't Waste Water podcast - SDG 6 - Global Water Funding

with πŸŽ™οΈ David Lloyd Owen, Managing Director of Envisager, Columnist for Global Water Intelligence, Advisor on several boards, and author of “Global Water Funding.”

πŸ’§ In his Global Water Funding book, David Lloyd Owen discusses global progress towards fulfilling SDG 6, proposes alternative solutions to lack of funding, and examines the reasons why countries are failing at implementing safe and sustainable water and sanitation for all.

Read more

Choosing the Best Suited Ozone Diffusion System. What does Data Say?

Ozone diffusion moves dissolved ozone into water two ways, fine bubble diffusers on a basin floor or sidestream venturi injection, the method Mazzei has built since 1978 from its base in the United States. Fine bubble diffusion relies on bubble size, contact area, and rise time, while sidestream injection pulls a slipstream through a venturi and mixes ozone in seconds.

πŸ’§ Mazzei Injector Company is a global leader in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of venturi injectors, flash reactors, and other high-efficiency mixing technologies and ozone diffusion systems.

Read more

How to Speak Up and Empower More Young Water Professionals

Hasmik Barseghyan - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Hasmik Barseghyan, President of the European Youth Parliament for Water, among other strategic roles at the World Water Quality Alliance, the World Energy Council, the International Secretariat for Water, or Woman in Climate and Energy.

πŸ’§ The EYPW aims to promote youth involvement in the water sector by increasing their awareness of water resource management issues and by fostering an understanding of citizenship and democracy.

Read more

Is Software to Measure Water Quality Actually a Matter of Hardware?

Meena Sankaran - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Meena Sankaran, CEO and Founder of KETOS.

KETOS SHIELD, an autonomous sensor, measures water quality by detecting heavy metals down to parts-per-billion across 30+ parameters using anodic stripping voltammetry. The software intelligence rides on that hardware, which is why the company built both layers in-house after raising US$45.3M across four priced rounds since 2015.

Read more

1001 Reasons Why, the Sustainability Puzzle is a Unique Opportunity

Alice Schmidt and Claudia Winkler, guests of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Alice Schmidt, MBA lecturer, Adviser to the European Commission, and non-profit organizations like Extinction Rebellion, Protect our Winters, and Chair of the Board of Endeva e.V.

with πŸŽ™οΈ Claudia Winkler, CEO, and co-founder of Goood Mobile, Europe’s first B-Corp Certified telecom provider, and a Founding Partner of Adjacent Possible Network.

πŸ’§ Alice and Claudia are the Authors of “the Sustainability Puzzle,” a must-read addressing how systems thinking, circularity, climate action, and social transformation can improve health, wealth, and wellbeing for all.

Read more

How Long Will it Take to Grow? The 4 Stages of Water Innovation.

Paul O'Callaghan - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Paul O’Callaghan – Founder & CEO @ BlueTech Research 

πŸ’§ BlueTech Research analyzes innovative water technologies to transform your company. 

πŸ’§ Paul is also the executive producer & co-director of Netflix’s “Brave Blue World.” 

πŸ’§ … and as he noticed, that he still had some time on Saturdays, he just completed a Ph.D. on the Dynamics of Water Innovation! 

Read more

What’s hidden in your tap water? Don’t worry, your utility doesn’t really know better!

Megan Casey Glover - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Megan Glover – CEO and Co-Founder of 120Water

120Water runs cloud-based testing and compliance programs that help United States utilities find and remove lead and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from drinking water across 48 US states. The company has raised US$57.5M across four rounds, including a US$43M growth round led by Edison Partners in 2024.

Read more

How to Treat Wastewater in a Net Grid Positive Way while Mimicking your Body?

Manaf Farhan - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

EMG International, founded in 1996, treats food and beverage wastewater with its Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Digester, a sealed reactor that turns industrial effluent into biogas instead of burning power to aerate it. The American firm drew a strategic utility when TransAlta took a 30% stake in 2020 to enter waste-to-energy treatment.

πŸ’§ EMG International is a leading company in Anaerobic Wastewater treatments, with a pretty unique take on anaerobic digestion.

Read more

How to Consistently Deliver on the Promise as a Consultant Engineer?

Maika Pellegrino - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

Jacobs Engineering Group runs water and wastewater delivery on an estimated US$3.7B in annual water revenue, with a consultant engineer working as the catalyst that aligns EPCs, equipment makers, regulators, and municipal clients around one buildable design. The firm has engineered globally since 1947, so delivery turns on client trust and community buy-in as much as on the chosen treatment.

πŸ’§ Jacobs was the World’s nΒ°1 Design Firm for the third year in a row as per ENR’s ranking in 2020

Read more

Fatbergs Right Ahead? Not if you Harvest the Right Data!

Brian Moloney - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Brian Moloney – Founder & Managing Director @ StormHarvester

πŸ’§ StormHarvester is the leading company in smart drainage systems (and more).

StormHarvester predicts sewer blockages and fatbergs before they cause overflows, and raised a $10.2M Series A in 2025 to roll the system out across Australasia and North America. The British firm reads existing network sensors with machine learning and hyperlocal weather forecasts instead of running hydraulic models, and has taken total funding to $12.56M since 2012.

Read more

This Astonishing Technology will Turn the Wastewater Sector on its Head! Here’s Why.

Gilad Yogev - Fluence's MABR Product Manager - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Gilad Yogev – Product Manager MABR Products @ Fluence

Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactors (MABR) push oxygen through gas-permeable membranes into the biofilm from the inside, cutting wastewater aeration energy to about 0.2 to 0.3 kWh per cubic meter. Fluence builds the technology into containerized Aspiral plants and SUBRE retrofits that hit under 10 mg/L total nitrogen at a confirmed readiness of TRL 8.

Read more

How to get Water as a Service, Below Utility Prices, with Zero Money Down

Matthew Silver - Guest of the (don't) Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Matthew Silver – Founder & CEO @ Cambrian Innovation

Cambrian Innovation sells treated water and recovered energy by the gallon through its Water-Energy Purchase Agreement, financing the plant up front so industrial customers pay nothing to install and carry no project risk. The model is backed by $17.2M raised in 2019 led by Spring Lane Capital, and the 2020 Baswood acquisition that doubled Cambrian’s installed base.

Read more

How to be a Beacon and Trigger 1.5 Billion New Funding as a Fearless Nonprofit

Kimberly Baker - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

Elemental Excelerator, now Elemental Impact, is a nonprofit climate-tech accelerator founded in 2012 that channels catalytic capital, drawn from 47 million dollars under management, into early-stage water and climate startups to push them toward commercial scale. Its water portfolio runs through companies like Capture6, Cambrian Innovation, and Verdi, all backed across funding rounds rather than for an equity return.

πŸ’§ Elemental is a non-profit Growth Accelerator supporting entrepreneurs who are building world-changing companies.

Read more

Can this Astonishing Aerospace Technology Improve Beer’s Taste?

Matthew Silver - Guest of the (dont') Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Matthew Silver – Founder & CEO @ Cambrian Innovation

Cambrian Innovation raised $17.2 million in 2019 to scale EcoVolt, a bioelectric anaerobic reactor that turns brewery and food wastewater into reusable water and clean energy. The technology, born from a NASA grant for astronaut life support, treats high-strength industrial effluent that conventional plants struggle with.

Read more

How to make the best use of each dollar to cut water losses as a small community?

Elango Thevar - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Elango Thevar – Founder & CEO @ NEER.ai

NEER runs a predictive AI platform that scores every pipe in a water network by failure risk, so small United States utilities can aim each replacement dollar at the assets most likely to break. Founded in 2020, the company turns partial maps and sensor data into a ranked capital-planning model, cutting non-revenue water without a full sensor rollout.

Read more

How to Clear Crazy Pollution Loads in an (Electrical) Breathe

Orianna Bretschger - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Orianna BRETSCHGER, Founder & CEO @ Aquacycl

Aquacycl runs microbial fuel cells that treat industrial wastewater carrying chemical oxygen demand (COD) loads of up to 300,000 mg/L, letting electrogenic bacteria digest the pollution and release electrons as direct electricity. The enclosed reactors skip aeration blowers entirely and strip out 70 to 90 percent of the COD at a fraction of conventional energy cost.

Read more

How to Solve a Global Challenge in an Easy, Affordable, Innovative, and Efficient Way?

Fajer Mushtaq - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ Fajer Mushtaq – Co-Founder & CEO @ Oxyle AG

Oxyle destroys forever chemicals like PFAS in water with a catalytic reactor that generates hydroxyl radicals on its surface, chemically breaking down micropollutants that activated carbon and ion exchange only trap and relocate. The Swiss company raised a 16.0 million dollar Series A in 2025 led by 360 Capital, taking its total funding to 19.0 million dollars.

Read more

Invisible Yet Actually in your Blood: Behind the Scenes of the PFAS Threat

Anthony Dusovic - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

Suez catalogs 49 audited water-treatment products for utilities confronting PFAS contamination, and the route it reaches for first is granular activated carbon, the adsorption media inside its Carbazur filters. Of that portfolio, 42 lines run on physical or biological processes, the workhorses municipalities deploy across North America and beyond.

πŸ’§ SUEZ in North America is the US’ second-largest environmental services firm.

Read more

Save Time, Boost Value and Wow Customers in a Snap with these 5 Simple (AI) Steps

Ari Raivetz - Guest of the Don't Waste Water Podcast

with πŸŽ™οΈ  Ari RAIVETZ – CEO @ Transcend Software Inc.

Transcend Software raised US$33.0M across four venture rounds to automate the first 20 to 30 percent of engineering for any water or wastewater treatment plant, turning weeks of preliminary design into hours. Its 2023 US$20M Series B led by Autodesk funds global rollout of the cloud-based Transcend Design Generator.

Read more