the stream

Episode four of the Stream is now live! 

This week Will and Tom are delighted to be joined by one and only Joel Makower, chairman and founder of GreenBiz Group.

Joel has been called the “guru of green business practices” by the Associated Press and has spent over 3 decades writing, speaking, advising and influencing companies to align pressing environmental and social issues with business success.

Listen to them chat about:

• Joel's origin story and journey to setting up GreenBiz Group, a media and events company focusing on the intersection of business, technology and sustainability
• The value of content in a world of greenwashing, and questions the expression “Content is King”, rephrasing it as “Context is King” as content has infact become ubiquitous
• How Joel has always been a guiding light for many in the world of sustainability, keeping track of the trends and often cutting through the PR, green hype often spouted out by corporations over the years

And finally looking at what Joel has achieved as an entrepreneur, journalist, events organiser, author, speaker and podcaster has been, and will continue to be a north star for me in the world of water.

Trust us, this is a great episode!

We hope you enjoy!

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, Professor Newsha Ajami, chief development officer for research, Berkeley Lab's EESA, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about decentralised solutions and what does the utility of the future look like?

Plus we talk about: 

- Professor Ajami's origin story, in Iran, providing decision support for infrastructure such as dams
- Moving to North America and taking what she describes as a “life-changing” water policy class
- The policy impact on the energy market and whether the water market could follow; a city-wide mandate in San Francisco on water management and the need for new business models to shake up the status quo. 

And we tackle the big question... Is World Water Day a fun day?

Professor Ajami is a leading expert in smart cities, resilient infrastructure, sustainable water resource management, the water-energy-food nexus and many other topics.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

In this week’s episode, Will & Tom are joined by Erin Rothman, the founder & CEO of US-start up, StormSensor.

Listen to Erin talk about: 

• Scaling a business, from 8 to 38 employees and recently raising a $12 million Series A round of investment
• How a pivotal moment in her personal life led to a change in direction in her professional life, creating the necessary spark to focus and go on and build her company
• How rather than positioning the company in the “water technology” category, the focus was on providing a climate-tech solution and how this not only helped to attract the right talent and investors but provided a centralised, collective purpose for a young, growing company
• Developing networks in Deerfield, North Miami, Virginia, California and many other locations
• Spotting red flags with investors, the warning signs to look out for and how she likes to theoretically test their fear levels, in incase the going gets really tough.

Plus, hear how one investor told Erin that “that’s not how CEOs should dress” regarding the image of her in a hard hat – the very image on The Stream cover. This is unbelievable, as you will hear from her, and our reaction!

We hope you enjoy the episode!  

This week, Dr. Reinhard Hübner, CEO of SKion Water, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg for the Season three finale, in the next 30 minutes discover...

How an early investment in a chemical-free cooling tower treatment start-up cost Reinhard millions but taught him a valuable lesson: It's all about the people. 

Why it is important to get to know the innovators before investing and the dangers of founders falling in love too much with their innovation.

How Reinhard's company started with a blank sheet of paper back in 2010 and has since grown to 3,000 people with over 750 million euros in turnover. 

And why he also believes it's difficult for venture capital firms and start-ups to work in water, noting countless examples when it comes to sludge and gasification.  

Plus much, much more! 

We hope you enjoy the episode! 

This week, John Etgen, the CEO of the Project Wet Foundation, and Ricky Arnold, NASA Astronaut and director of STEM  engagement at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science,  join Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about how they found a connection to water growing up in the Chesapeake Bay. 

Find out about the fantastic work being done by the Project Wet team to advance water education in over 100 countries, including work with the Singapore Government. 

Hear about Ricky's time on the International Space Station - Twice! And why water recycling is critical in space. 

Plus, we talk about the huge challenge known as the silver tsunami that is facing the water sector with an increasing number of skilled engineers on the verge of retiring, leaving a workforce gap and why there is an urgent need role for education to spark careers in STEM-related industries. 

And much, much more! 

We hope you enjoy the episode! 

This week, Lisa Hook, senior manager for environmental & product sustainability at GAP Inc. joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about her water origin story and working in Cambodia witnessing a lack of water in communities. 

Lisa talks about her fantastic session at the World Water Week in Stockholm discussing moving beyond water stewardship to strategy. Plus, we find out more about a water innovation centre in India where new industrial water technologies are being trialled and municipal water is being reused for manufacturing.

We also find out what water means to GAP Inc. and how the company has ambitions to make water fun and engage staff on water sustainability. And finally, Lisa tells us about the Women and Water Alliance, a partnership between GAP Inc. and the US Agency for International Development to help improve the health and wellbeing of women in communities. 

Plus much, much more!

We hope you enjoy the episode! 

Ian Olson, the senior director of global sustainability at McDonald’s, joins Will and Tom this week to talk about his background in economics and as the global manager of supply chain sustainability at the Ford Motor Company, the lessons learned and what he brought to the fast-food giant, including learning to accept failure. 

Plus, Ian talks about a new partnership with WaterStart’s global pilot program to play a role in how emerging water solutions are identified, evaluated and deployed. Also, Ian, Will and Tom talk about the power of accessible brands, with McDonald’s serving 69 million people per day to provide “aha” moments, to democratise awareness on sustainability and water quality issues.

 Plus much, much more! 

We hope you enjoy the episode!

This week, Sera Young, Associate Professor, Anthropology & Global Health, Northwestern University joins Will Sarni & Tom Freyberg to talk about the development of the HWISE scales: The why, the who, the what and the where. 

Sera also sheds light on "honey, do I have a solution for you", and tells us how she went knocking at the door of water multinationals and a partnership with Unilever, including ambitions for India and data.

Plus much, much more!  

This week, Frantz Beznik, Senior Director for Sustainable Innovation, Procter & Gamble and founder of the 50L Home Coalition, joins Will and Tom to talk about Frantz's inspiration behind the 50L Home Coalition after he witnessed Day Zero in Cape Town. 

Frantz also gives an insight into his philosophy of abundance, with his goal of making 50 litres feel like 500, the true impact of reducing water use can have and how he wants to make the sustainable, irresistible. 

Plus, Will and Tom find out how Frantz drummed up the support of key players, such as the World Economic Forum, in order to get the attention of policymakers, as well as discussing the next stages to create pilot projects, including new builds and retrofitting to existing houses to create the 50 litre home. 

And much, much more!

We hope you enjoy the episode! 

In this week’s episode, Eleanor Allen, CEO of the charity Water for People, joins Will Sarni & Tom Freyberg to talk about her ultra-cycling bug and latest adventure, Race Across the West, an epic 930-mile journey across desert and mountains in four days to raise awareness on the need for clean water. 

Plus, Eleanor gives us her origin story from working as an environmental consultant to heading up the global non-profit organisation, the importance of capacity building to help meet SDG 6, and how Water for People has mastered storytelling to drive awareness, plus much much more!

We hope you enjoy the episode.

Water for People is a charity that has helped millions of people across nine countries get access to clean water.

In this week’s episode, Mark Kaney, the director of asset management at Binnies, joins Will & Tom to talk about his journey as a semi-professional musician and how he reminisces over the human connections from live music experiences. 

Plus, listen as they discuss the good old fashioned British pub as the centre of communities and how Mark actually digitally twinned a pub for his team to meet and mingle online.

Mark, Will and Tom cut through the Digital Twin hype and talk about the lessons learned from other industries when it comes to mitigating risk, and drawing a connection to Formula 1. 

We hope you enjoy the episode!

In this week’s episode, Fiona Regan, a professor in chemistry at Dublin City University and director of the DCU Water Institute, joins Will & Tom to talk about how Fiona fell in love with water, found her purpose and wants to bring others on her journey.


Plus, learn why fishermen & paddleboarders are key to the citizen science movement, the importance of not just more data on water quality, but actionable data, and how scaling up of a water transfer office – lessons learned so far and the need to “get out of the lab”.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

The DCU Water Institute (WI) is a cross-faculty initiative of research and education on water.

In this week’s episode, Damian Wells, Managing Director of Australian water utility at Coliban Water, joins Will & Tom to talk about how Damian handled the company’s migration to working from home during Covid-19 and the importance of mental wellbeing. 

Plus, find out why Will & Tom may soon be applying for jobs at Coliban Water, and how a love for adventure got Damian into trouble, including a bad mountain biking accident that left him almost paralysed...

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Coliban Water provides water and wastewater services to 49 towns across 16,500 sq km in North-Central Victoria. 

Ioana Dobrescu, from Water Footprint Implementation, joins Will and Tom this week on The Stream to talk about how her childhood love for Captain Planet inspired a career in water. Plus, Ioana discusses the current global water footprint and the launch of a new water quality alliance involving Google.

Dr Chris Fisher, Founder and Director of the Earth Archive and Archaeologist, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to discuss the critical work his company is doing using LiDAR and voxel mapping to create a digital version of our planet. Concerned with how rapidly the Earth is changing, Dr Fisher explains why it is vital we create an open-source copy that could prove to be invaluable in the decades to come.  

Stuart Orr, Practice Lead at Freshwater, WWF, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg from the comfort of his shed for the series finale of The Stream to talk about innovative creative water partnerships around the world. Plus, Stuart shines a light on the WWF rowing partnership, the biodiversity crisis, and why the water sector needs a kick up the backside.  

Yang Villa, the Head of the Philippines, Isle Utilities, sits down with Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to discuss innovation in both the public and private sectors in the Philippines water market. Plus, Yang treats Will and Tom to a festive rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town on his ukulele... 

Tali Harif, the Chief Commercial Officer at Puraffinity, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about the importance of diversity in pushing through innovation, including most recently on PFAS. Also, Tali discusses how growing up in Israel shaped a career in startups, and how her experience in both the private and public sectors have given her an eye for innovation.  

Lon Johnson, the founder & CEO of WaterWorks, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about how his background in American politics helped him identify a new way to help increase online investment in innovative water projects. They discuss the increasing importance of community in a changing water world and how “chicken dinner fundraising” evolved into a digital operation.

Kelly Trott, the VP of deployment & impact for Imagine H2O, joins Will Sarni and Tom Freyberg to talk about the Urban Water Challenge and overall winner. Plus, Kelly reveals how her puppy become an overnight TikTok sensation, the wider use of social media and how it can be used to get people engaging with water.