Send us a text

David Gory, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbuild, joins us to discuss Airbuild's incredibly innovative and exciting "Project Photosynthesis" pilot project in Green River, Utah. Through the power of algae, Project Photosynthesis creates multiple environmental benefits: 1) it cleans river water by removing nutrient loads, e-coli, and other pollutants; 2) it is a carbon-capture project that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through algal photosynthesis and pyrolyzed biomass; 3) it produces biochar which can be used in a number of ways such as an organic fertilizer and "mulch" to promote soil moisture or as a replacement for limestone in concrete; 4) it also incorporates and repurposes local organic waste providing a service to local municipalities and agricultural producers; and several more bells and whistles. The excitement around this project is palpable - can't wait to see where it goes!

Check out the project website: https://www.airbuildinc.com/

Send us a text

Emily Olsen, Vice President - Rocky Mountains for Trout Unlimited, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Operations Manager for Blue Commons, and Elijah Tangenberg of CKBlueshift, LLC, join us to talk about Blue Commons and their new ReBeaver Restoration Fund. This is an exciting discussion about Blue Commons and their innovative approach to bring readily available and deployable financing for water conservation projects in the Colorado River Basin. Blue Commons uses a variety of creative financing structures to make funds available to its partners for a number of needs such as project grant funding, bridge loans, and money to leverage other sources of revenue. As the ReBeaver Restoration Fund is the newest Blue Commons fund, we discuss Trout Unlimited's work to use Blue Commons to fund Beaver Dam analogs and similar technologies to restore watersheds in Arizona and Colorado. Very exciting work!

Check out the ReBeaver project: https://thebluebank.org/rebeaver

Send us a text

Peter Culp, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, and Mary Kelly, Co-Founder and Partner Emeritus, join us to talk about the innovative work Culp & Kelly and Blueshift are undertaking at the nexus of water, climate, finance, and natural resource management. As a new partner with Culp & Kelly, your host Emily Lewis, talks with Mary and Peter about the creation of Culp & Kelly, the need for a different kind of business and legal model to address complicated water problems, and operating a mission-based organization. We also take the opportunity to ask two of the smartest people in the room about their thoughts on the last 15 years of water management, current trends, and predictions for the future. We end on a hopeful note about finding opportunity in times of change and the need to build a positive more equitable future.

Send us a text

On the eve of our 200th episode, we are looking back on a similarly epic milestone, episode 100: Klamath Drainage District.

Reagan Desmond walks us through the complicated and complex world of the Klamath Basin. From Endangered Species actions, to water quality issues, to drought - the Klamath is a microcosm of the larger water world. Fantastic discussion!!

Send us a text

On the eve of our 200th episode, we are looking back to the very beginning, episode 01: Massive Canals and Lots of Mint.

The heart of the Bear River Canal Company system has been in operation since the late 1880s. BRCC representatives Curtis Marble and Trevor Nielson discuss Company history, coming challenges, and opportunities for the future.

Send us a text

Move over PFAS, Sara Page, Drinking Water Treatment Lead for the Utah Division of Drinking Water, joins us to discuss my new favorite(?) emerging contaminant - microplastics. This is a fascinating discussion about the very complicated and complex nature of microplastics. Sara does a great job of breaking down the key considerations of shape, type (chemical composition), additives, and age as a means for us to get our heads wrapped around this incredibly dynamic topic. I walked away with a newfound appreciation for the importance of surface area and degradation over time as important considerations. This is a topic to watch.

Send us a text

Justin Bowen, PhD and Founder of HydroScapes Analytics, joins us to discuss his dissertation and exciting new model for spatially mapping water rights, water rights distribution systems, and watershed conditions. This model brings together water right information, soil moisture conditions, OpenET evapotranspiration data, real time gauge measurements, and existing hydrologic models to assess watershed impacts of efficiency and conservation projects. The applications for this kind of dynamic information are endless!! Good work Justin!

Send us a text

Tia Cavender, CEO and Founder of Dig Deep Research, makes a return visit to discuss the status of federal funding for water projects. Tia and Dig Deep have assisted clients for over 15 years and are experts in navigating the myriad of federal grant and loan programs. We have a very timely, and sobering, discussion about how recent changes to federal funding may affect both current and future water projects and how water utilities can pivot to fund these critical projects.