Building the Netflix of beverages with Manuela Zoninsine | S5 Ep.9

In the final episode of The Stream season 6, Will and Tom are joined by Jerry Gunderson, a 4th generation rancher and businessman from Colorado.

It was great to bring in the voice of agriculture and cattle into the conversation in this episode. Often, it’s a voice that doesn’t get an invite to these types of discussions. 

Jerry talks openly about life as a rancher, including anticipating water challenges and measures he’s taking to ensure there’s a water reserve available during times of water scarcity. 

 As a 4th generation rancher, Jerry has seen it all, from family feuds to drought and beyond. He takes us through his journey with water. 
We hope you enjoy the episode! 

Special thanks to this season’s sponsor Raymond James: https://www.raymondjames.com/ 

And thanks to our knowledge partners: 
British Water: https://www.britishwater.co.uk/ 
WWF: https://www.wwfca.org/en/our_work/water/ 
Water Alliance: https://wateralliance.nl/en/water-all... 
DCU Water institute: https://dcuwater.ie/ 
SurplusWater25: https://surpluswater2025.com/ 
Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab: https://eesa.lbl.gov/ 
Water Foundry: https://www.waterfoundry.com/ 
Atlantean Media: https://www.atlanteanmedia.com/

This week Will and Tom are joined by James Eklund, Water & Natural Resources Practice Lead, Sherman & Howard. Known as the architect of Colorado’s first strategic water plan, he was the Director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

James talks about why involving all stakeholders, effectively democratising input on the future of their supply, was a central to the success of the plan.

He discusses his origin story – he’s a fifth generation Coloradan from the Western Slope of Colorado, where his parents operate a ranch homesteaded by his great, great grandparents in 1888.

He’s often consulted on implementing what has been considered the “gold standard” of water plans in the Western US.

Enjoy the episode!

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

In this episode, Will and Tom are joined by Newsha Ajami, Chief Development Officer for Research, Earth & Environmental Sciences Area, Berkeley Lab.

They talk about the role of water demand reduction to help increase water security across the Colorado River Basin.

Newsha discusses what’s needed to move from a centralised, aka the conventional water systems, to the decentralised model and the role of engaging community ambassadors.

She believes spurring the first movers is really important in the decentralised movement, and talks about policy developments and leading cities such as San Francisco

There is also talk, believe it or not, on pizza! That’s right, we discuss how digital innovation has given people insights on their pizza’s being cooked and delivered. Why is it that people have a more positive relationship with their local pizzeria than their water company?

It was great to have Newsha back on The Stream – we’re a big fan of her vision for the future of water.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

In this episode, Will and Tom are joined by Dave who gives context on Southern Nevada, providing water in the desert and meeting the needs of a population that booms from tourism and the attraction of Las Vegas.

As one of the Leading Utilities of the World, he discusses why they’re sharing lessons with like-minded water companies around the world on their 20-year demand management journey and also the long term, water resource strategy.

We also talk about grass, or turf, and the limiting of the Colorado river for the irrigation of non-functional turf, naturally refraining from breaking into the Tom Jones’ song, The green green grass of home.

And finally, Dave discusses an innovation on water footprinting with Southern Nevada’s tool being used to evaluate potential water use from incoming businesses.

Plus much much more! We hope you enjoy the episode!

Special thanks to this season's sponsor, Raymond James.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water Institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley  Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

We've been looking forward to this one...

This week, Will and Tom are joined by one of the founders of the sustainability movement, the great John Elkington.

A founding partner and chief pollinator at Volans, and also the co-founder of ENDS (Environmental Data Services), John talks about the triple bottom line (people, planet and prosperity) vision, and why this ended up being recalled and revised.

Plus, John talks about the joint responsibility of younger and older generations when it comes to sustainability.

And John takes an interest in Will’s model spitfire in his office, telling an awesome story of his father flying planes during the war.

Plus much, much more!

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Special thanks to this season’s sponsor Acciona.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

This week on #TheStream, Will and Tom are joined by Manuela Zoninsine, CEO & Founder of Kadeya, a closed-loop water vending service powered by digitally-connected reusable water bottles and mini bottling stations. 

Find out about Manuela’s early experience as a journalist, being based in China ahead of the Olympic Games and why this helped to harness her critical thinking.

Plus: 

Manuela talks about the need to rethink hydration, particularly in workplaces around the world and the reason to couple this with increased data

The need to develop a business model to eliminate single-use plastics

 And finally, Manuela talks about investment, how the multinationals are viewing potential disruption to their market and also scaling.

And much, much more! We hope you enjoy the episode. 

 Special thanks to this season’s sponsor Acciona.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

This week, John Matthews, Executive Director at Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), joins Will Sarni & Tom Freyberg to #TheStream to talk about his origin story as a butterfly biologist, work with the WWF and a life-changing trip to India where he was given a sobering case on the spiritual value of water.

Plus: 

• John discusses the founding of AGWA and what water resilience really means – way beyond the hard engineering
• The upcoming UN Water Week in New York
• How to get a whisky sponsorship for the podcast.

And, the three of them talk about popular narratives, such as: “climate change is the shark and water is the teeth.” However, as you’ll hear from John, this is a huge oversimplification, and he provides a suggested alternative!

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Special thanks to this season’s sponsor Acciona.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

In this week’s episode, Will and Tom were delighted to be joined by Brendan Tierney, Managing Director and Head of Global Water Practice at Raymond James.

He talks about his origin story: being attracted to Wall Street as an investment banker, before being made redundant and eventually joining Raymond James in 2016 to build out the water portfolio. 

Plus, Brendan talks about:

• The areas where he sees huge potential for further market activity, including digitalisation of water and water quality, and notable PFAS treatment, otherwise known as forever chemicals
• The recent gargantuan, $7.5 billion merger between the two US water giants – Xylem and Evoqua
•  And what this could mean for the industry following integration.

And much, much more!

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Special thanks to this season’s sponsor Acciona.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.

This week, Will and Tom, are delighted to be joined by Meena Sankaran, Founder & CEO Ketos, a vertically integrated water quality and monitoring platform. 

Meena talks about the importance of crafting a culture in this episode and the importance of maintaining the attitude of a start-up. 

Plus hear about:

• Meena's journey from humble beginnings in India where she learned the value of water before taking a one-way flight to the US to move up the ranks as an engineer
• The challenges of starting her own business that Meena had to overcome battling against naysayers and critics
• The task of raising $40 million in capital investment but how the pure play water investors initially closed the door, forcing her to look to impact and climate-tech investors
• Meena talks openly about investment cycles and how the 18-24 months between investment rounds are not necessarily aligned with the buying cycles of the utility market
• And how Meena purposefully built the strategy of the digital company to work across the utility, industry and agricultural sectors.

It was an absolute joy to have Meena on the podcast, a true passionate visionary who has built a company and culture that crosses industries and the water-energy-food nexus.

We know you will enjoy this episode!

Special thanks to this season’s sponsor Acciona.

And thanks to our knowledge partners: British Water, WWF, Water Alliance, DCU Water institute, SurplusWater25, Earth and Environmental Science at Berkeley Lab, Water Foundry and Atlantean Media.