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 of the disparities in how people experience drinking water. In this episode, Crispin and Spiridellis start by discussing her trip to Latin America, and Spiridellis will be writing articles for WaterWorld on her experiences, called World of Water.

World of Water

• Introduction & episode summary | 0:09
• What motivated Kaitlin to conduct her globetrotting water study? | 0:49
• The experience of locals in Mexico City | 2:25
• How stormwater capture for drinking water supply becomes a critical resource | 4:33
• Exploring how virtual water impacts water management in Argentina | 7:08
• Chile's approach to One Water | 10:24
• Governance barriers between rural and urban areas | 13:26
• The cultural and gender burdens surrounding water supply and management | 17:12
• Summarizing the European leg of Kaitlin's World of Water trip | 20:28
• Housekeeping | 21:57

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   Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management and erosion control. It is produced in coordination between Wastewater Digest (WWD), WaterWorld and Storm Water Solutions (SWS). The podcast covers topics under the One Water movement including the municipal and industrial water and wastewater, residential, storm water and erosion control markets. Talking Under Water highlights news, trends, new technologies, industry discussions and on-site interviews with experts across the municipal water industry. New episodes of the podcast are released every other week. Logo Images: Anatoly Tiplyashin / Romolo Tavani / stock.adobe.com.  

Contact the Talking Under Water podcast editors by emailing talkingunderwater@endeavorb2b.com engaging with them on Twitter @TUWpodcast. Join the conversation by commenting or using the hashtag #talkingunderwaterpod on social media. 

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 Justice employees on administrative leave
• Jessica Kramer nominated as EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water
• EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announces "Powering the Great American Comeback" initiative
• EPA renames its Gulf Division

• Host intro & episode summary | 0:09
• News round-up begins; President Trump's administration one month in | 0:50
• Jessica Kramer nominated to lead EPA Office of Water | 7:15
• California wildfires recap | 10:58
• Housekeeping | 18:38

• Nominate a Wastewater Digest Emerging leader
• Nominate a WaterWorld Emerging Leader
• Nominate a Stormwater Solutions Emerging Leader

Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management and erosion control. It is produced in coordination between Wastewater Digest (WWD), WaterWorld and Storm Water Solutions (SWS). The podcast covers topics under the One Water movement including the municipal and industrial water and wastewater, residential, storm water and erosion control markets. Talking Under Water highlights news, trends, new technologies, industry discussions and on-site interviews with experts across the municipal water industry. New episodes of the podcast are released every other week. Logo Images: Anatoly Tiplyashin / Romolo Tavani / stock.adobe.com.  

Contact the Talking Under Water podcast editors by emailing talkingunderwater@endeavorb2b.com engaging with them on Twitter @TUWpodcast. Join the conversation by commenting or using the hashtag #talkingunderwaterpod on social media. 

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 PFOS — in sewage sludge and land-applied biosolids on January 14, 2025. While this assessment is not a regulation, it suggests a degree of risk that could one day include a regulation.

So what do wastewater leaders need to do now and what does this assessment mean for them? Endeavor Business Media Water Group Editor Alex Cossin caught up with Kyle Thompson, the PFAS national practice lead for Carollo Engineers, to get the details.

• Watch: EPA draft sludge risk assessment for PFAS: What it means for utilities
• Read: Five takeaways from the EPA's draft sewage sludge risk assessment for PFOA and PFOS

• Introduction and episode summary | 00:09
• Interview begins | 1:24
• Findings and takeaways from the PFAS sewage sludge risk assessment | 1:37
• How can utilities use this information to plan around PFAS? | 5:54
• What are the best treatment options for PFAS in sludge and biosolids? | 10:19
• What's the best way to communicate with customers on this? | 13:39
• Housekeeping | 17:38

• Nominate a Wastewater Digest Emerging leader
• Nominate a WaterWorld Emerging Leader
• Nominate a Stormwater Solutions Emerging Leader

Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management and erosion control. It is produced in coordination between Wastewater Digest (WWD), WaterWorld and Storm Water Solutions (SWS). The podcast covers topics under the One Water movement including the municipal and industrial water and wastewater, residential, storm water and erosion control markets. Talking Under Water highlights news, trends, new technologies, industry discussions and interviews with experts across the municipal water industry. New episodes of the podcast are released every other week. Logo Images: Anatoly Tiplyashin / Romolo Tavani / stock.adobe.com.  

Contact the Talking Under Water podcast editors by emailing talkingunderwater@endeavorb2b.com engaging with them on Twitter @TUWpodcast. Join the conversation by commenting or using the hashtag #talkingunderwaterpod on social media.