The Water Zone

Guest Charley Wilson, executive director and CEO of the Southern California Water Coalition, provides his perspective on the biggest water challenges in California today and what his organization is doing to secure greater water supplies. He shares his thoughts on how climate change is affecting water supplies and discusses the status of the Delta Fix project. He also speaks about the need to expand storm water storage throughout the state, the implementation of desalination projects and presents his view on the future of water.

Podcast Recorded on June 6, 2024

The first of a six-part series on New Mexico Produced Research Consortium, a joint effort of the New Mexico Environment Department and New Mexico State University. Throughout this series, we will have participating members in the Consortium like EPA representatives, government agencies, legislators, scientists, and utilities representatives, to share their perspectives and contributing actions toward the implementation of produced water. In this episode, Mike Hightower, Consortium program director, provides insight into the EPA's National Water Reuse Action and explains the significant role of produced water in that plan. He also describes "the Global One Water Concept" and how the concept can provide for water resilience and reliability.

Podcast Recorded on May 30, 2024

Irrigation Association President and owner of Surf ‘N Earth Enterprises, Inge Bisconer, describes her role and plans for working with membership, the industry and legislators. Inge reflects on recent accolades from the American Society of Irrigation Consultants and her 40 plus years in the irrigation industry. A long-time advocate for sustainability and water use efficiency, she has been a leading expert helping agricultural growers improve their profitability through better technology, management, and education.  Her newest educational endeavor includes the co-development of a software program to monetize the benefits of efficient irrigation.

Podcast Recorded on May 23, 2024

Special guest Steven Moore, CEO of Moore Water Management, talks about best practices in water management and how they can be practically applied in the real world.  He describes evapotranspiration (ET) and factors to consider when developing watering plans like crop coefficients, soil conditions, temperature, humidity, wind, and solar radiation. Finally, he discusses smart controllers and soil moisture sensors, how each works hand-in-hand to provide the right watering schedule and how ET data plays a role in delivering precise irrigation schedules.

Podcast Recorded on May 16, 2024

Moses West Foundation leverages cutting edge atmospheric water generation technology to provide water access, foster community development and promote environmental responsibility. Founder Moses West joins the show to present the foundation’s latest technology for atmospheric water generation. He also shares how the foundation has generated over 5 million gallons of clean water around the world since its launch and how it has provided many potable water generator systems to the US military, the Red Cross and others. This unique technology has proven effective in any type of environment, even in the hottest deserts.

Podcast Recorded on May 9, 2024

We are joined by friend of the show, John Farner, executive director of the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a center at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. John provides insight on the center’s activities and objectives. He also details the history and importance of the Colorado River Basin and why the center started its work there. He addresses the biggest challenges facing the basin and highlights some key programs relevant to overall global water challenges.

Podcast Recorded on May 2, 2024

This week’s guest is Thomas Schumann, CEO of Thomas Schumann Capital (TSC). TSC has emerged as a leading advocate for sustainable freshwater management and global water security. Recognizing the importance of water, TSC’s mission is to harness innovative strategies to protect freshwater supplies for the future. The company has also developed innovative financial instruments to promote water security, including the world’s first security token backed by real-world assets in the form of Arctic freshwater exploration rights. They have also developed the TSC Water Security Index, the world’s first index family to measure water risks in equities and portfolios for global capital markets.

Podcast Recorded on April 25, 2024

Chris Willis, owner of Colorado Total Maintenance company located in Denver, Colorado details his journey from grounds worker to business owner.  Colorado Total Maintenance manages landscape and irrigation for the City of Denver Parks & Recreation along with other large scale commercial properties. Chris believes that his experience starting in the industry and the opportunity to learn from experts has made him a wiser businessman and a owner. He provides insight to the many irrigation opportunities that his company deals with each day, educational resources from the Irrigation Association and Colorado State University, and mentorship experiences in the soil, water and plant testing laboratory.

Podcast Recorded on April 18, 2024

Theo Wirtz and Philliph Prosenko of the IRRISketch company discuss their low-cost, innovative web-based irrigation system planner for landscape professionals and homeowners. Their software can significantly reduce the time to create a professional irrigation system design down to approximately 30 minutes. The system automatically determines pipe size, spray heads or rotors required and how many can be operated by each valve. IRRISketch also identifies all the components needed to install the irrigation system from to PVC connectors to the controller. IRRISketch’s suggested pricing is around $450 versus the thousands of dollars for other design systems.

Podcast Recorded on April 11, 2024

Part two of our discussion on cybersecurity affecting the water, electrical and petroleum industries. Contributors to the discussion are Frank Taylor, former under secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Sherri Ramsay, former director of the National Security Agency/Central Security Service Threat Operations Center, Hafsah Lak, former FBI Department of Cyber Security chief, and Harri Hursti, world-renowned data security expert. They discuss issues like the risk of cell phone use for cyber attacks, the dark web, infrastructure safety, the future of cyber security, and how we can get involved.

Podcast Recorded on April 4, 2024

The first of an eye-opening two-part series, this episode dives into the heart of cybersecurity, featuring an elite panel including Frank Taylor, former Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Sherri Ramsay, former Director of the NSA/CSS Threat Operations Center, Hafsah Lak, former FBI Cyber Security Chief, and Harri Hursti, a world-renowned data security expert. Together, they illuminate the potential cyber threats targeting vital infrastructures like water and electrical utilities, and petroleum refineries, while outlining robust response strategies of government agencies and practical measures for private sectors to fortify their IT systems.

Podcast Recorded on March 28, 2024

The New Jersey Irrigation Association is known for its leadership in groundbreaking legislation for the industry. The New Jersey IA helped drive legislation that requires all irrigators in the state to be licensed. Gregg Rogers, owner of Garden Irrigation in New Jersey, chronicles his efforts to help drive new legislation through his work with the Irrigation Association and discusses his company’s growth over the past 30 years. He also describes the many educational activities that they have initiated to provide homeowners and contractors with a wealth of knowledge on irrigation technologies and state regulations.

Podcast Recorded on March 21, 2024

Tom Lucas, president of Performance Nursery, provides a history of how and what attracted him to the green industry. He recounts the changes to the industry over time and how those changes have shaped the sales of low water use plant materials and water conservation. Tom also shares how these changes have impacted marketing, promotion and produced a more educated customer base.

Podcast Recorded on March 14, 2024

Featured guest Seth Bangerter of Thrive Smart Systems joins to share the company’s new valve technology that can immediately and remotely connect back to an installed smart irrigation controller. This product can communicate up to 200 yards through typical landscape obstructions with no wires or pairing required with the controller. He describes how this technology fits within most residential irrigation systems and can manage up to four individual stations.

Podcast Recorded on March 7, 2024

Salt Lake City Utilities is the oldest retail water provider in the west. Conservation Manager for Salt Lake Cities Utilities, Stephanie Duer gives us a brief history on this special purveyor and talks about her role in water conservation. She also shares the many projects that they are involved with focused on water use efficiency and discusses how the organization handles the population growth, climate change, and short-term weather fluctuations that have impacted water supply.

Podcast Recorded on February 29, 2024

Water activist, Seth Siegal, joins the show to share his experience during a recent trip to Israel in a quest to see how the current conflict is affecting people and businesses in the region.  He describes to listeners the even more critical need for water and discusses new, highly efficient technologies for agricultural utilization in the Middle East, Europe and the United States receiving praise for reducing their water usage to grow crops.

Podcast Recorded on February 22, 2024

CEO and General Manager of San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, Heather Dyer, speaks about many of the area’s projects including a gravity pipeline that delivers non-reclaimable waste from the Santa Ana River to an Orange County treatment plant. As well as the Santa Ana River water rights project that provides leadership in the management of water resources throughout its service area. Finally, Heather discusses water conservation education programs and workshops they provide to their customers.

Podcast Recorded on February 8, 2024

Tia Fleming, director of external affairs for the California Water Energy Partnership (CALWEP), gives a brief history of the organization and explains how they advocate for California water agency legislation and regulatory requirements. CALWEP provides technical tools and training as well as professional networking opportunities. It also serves as the technical expert for partners and agencies and fosters research, evaluation and management assistance for conservation rebate programs.

Podcast recorded on January 25, 2024