Talking Under Water

In this episode of Talking Under Water, co-hosts Katie Johns, Mandy Crispin, and Alex Cossin discuss recent industry news, including the Waterkeeper Alliance’s latest PFAS analysis, revealing that 98% of sampled U.S. waterways tested positive for PFAS contamination; recent business acquisitions; infrastructure upgrades by San Jose Water, including water main replacements and the use of AI in asset management, and Indiana American W...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, Bob Crossen speaks with Elora Arnette, associate director of Water Finance Assistance, about the multifaceted challenges facing small water utilities in 2025. They explore workforce shortages, including the growing number of soon-to-retire operators and the difficulty in replacing them, particularly in rural communities. Arnette discusses how many small utilities rely on multitalented local s...

In this sponsored episode of Talking Under Water, Co-host Bob Crossen spoke with Ian Bramson, vice president of industrial cybersecurity for Black & Veatch about how water utilities can best prepare their cybersecurity efforts and investments. Bramson touches on Black & Veatch’s 2025 Water Report, which found that 95% of utilities now prioritize cybersecurity investment, a growing number. Throughout the interview, Bramson e...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, we discuss industry news, including the  recent floods in Texas, North Carolina and New Mexico, President Trump’s spending and tax bill, known as the Big Beautiful Bill and PFAS settlement payouts.   

• What to know about the Texas and North Carolina floods
• [USA Today] Who's to blame for Texas flooding tragedy? There is a lot of finger pointing.
• [The Washington Post] Chanta...

In 2025, a significant portion of the global population faces water scarcity. The UN World Water Development Report in 2024 estimated that 2.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. How does the water industry not only address this challenge, but how does it do so without affecting future generations, and what is the future of the water energy nexus?

• Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025 Best Innovation ...

Bob Crossen, vice president of content strategy for water and energy, recaps the American Water Works Associations' ACE show, which took place from June 8-11, 2025, in Denver, Colorado. Crossen was joined at the show by WaterWorld editor-in-chief Mandy Crispin and Water Group associate editor Alex Cossin, so he shares insights the three of them gained from the show. First, Crossen discusses new products that Mueller and Neptune sho...

For 15 years, Dean Amhaus has led The Water Council in Milwaukee as CEO and president, but just earlier this year he announced his retirement. In this episode, co-Host Bob Crossen speaks with Amhaus about his career, how far the water industry has come, and where it's headed. Over his tenure, Amhaus has witnessed trends and shifts in businesses, and advancements in technology while helping The Water Council become a destination for...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the hosts discuss recent industry news, including President Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, which amounts to $4.2 billion in a total funding reduction across the entire agency in 2026 compared to 2025 for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Additionally, the hosts discuss recent U.S. Geological Survey grants to 12 state agencies to support landslide risk reduction and ha...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, Co-host Mandy Crispin speaks with Frederick Johnson, cybersecurity practice lead at Stantec. Johnson helps utilities, government agencies, and private sector clients prepare for technological challenges. The cyber-attack on Wichita, Kansas, was about a year ago, and the cybersecurity issue in Arkansas City, Kansas, was about six months ago. Considering these events, the interview sheds light ...

While many big utilities have largely implemented and installed advanced metering infrastructure for their distribution systems, medium and small systems are still making their way into that digital future.

The technology of today offers a lot of benefits for utilities as well as their customers. Custom alerts for when a leak is detected so a costly water bill can be avoided. Data on water usage througho...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the hosts discuss recent industry news, including construction and discharge updates at the international boundary; the completion of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) work in North Carolina following Hurricane Helene, the EPA announcing a public hearing for an updated draft of the MS4 general permit in Massachusetts, what to expect for PFAS regulations under the new a...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the hosts dive into the results from the American Society of Civil Engineers 2025 Infrastructure Report Card. Overall, the country received a “C,” which is its highest grade ever. The hosts zoom in on the drinking water, stormwater and wastewater grades, all of which received the same grades as 2021, and discuss the overlap in goals from ASCE on raising the grades in the future, including ass...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, Karen Dettmer, Americas director of Water Resources for Ramboll, discusses water industry trends, her former work with both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the public sector in Milwaukee, where she was the first woman public works commissioner. Dettmer also discusses her work with policy, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

• Dropping By #87: What the Bip...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, Co-host Mandy Crispin chats with Kaitlin Spiridellis, a Vanderbilt University Michael B. Keegan traveling fellow. Spiridellis has worked for over three years within Vanderbilt’s Drinking Water Justice Lab and focuses on the disparities in how people experience drinking water in different communities.  In the summer of 2024, she began touring various continents to gain a better understanding o...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the hosts summarize several actions of President Trump during his first month after reassuming the presidency and what those might mean for the industry, and they touch on the nomination of Jessica Kramer to the office of water at EPA as its assistant administrator. Finally, the episode ends with an update on the California Wildfires. 

• EPA places DEI and Environmental Justic...

In April of 2022, Maine banned land application of biosolids due to concerns of PFAS. It has become a point of contention in the state, causing wastewater systems to scramble for alternatives with much of it going over the border to Canadian landfills as Maine landfills refuse to accept the waste or run into capacity issues. 

Nearly two years later, U.S. EPA released a long-awaited risk assessment of two PFAS chemicals — PFOA and P...

In this episode of Talking Under Water the hosts discuss recent industry news including the nomination hearing for Lee Zeldin, whom President Trump is seeking to lead the U.S. EPA; the California wildfires, including the Palisades and Eaton fires along with others that began between January 22 and January 23; and the release of EPA’s risk assessment of PFAS in sewage sludge. This draft risk assessment, which is now available for pu...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, Co-host Bob Crossen talks with John Newsome, administrator for the Division of Water for the City of Columbus, Ohio and president of the newly founded Ohio WateReuse Association Chapter, discuss all things related to water reuse. 

Various states, including California, Texas, Florida and Arizona are all in various stages of water reuse regulatory developments, and here, Newsome discusses how O...

In this episode of Talking Under Water, the hosts discuss the state of the industry surveys from each water brand — Stormwater Solutions, Wastewater Digest and WaterWorld — with some data points. The hosts provide some analysis of the results, including what some of the biggest challenges and trends are moving into 2025.  

• The Pulse of Water: State of the Industry Insights with Bentley 
• GHD study examines path t...