What does a water utility do? For this episode of Water Street Questions, we asked people outside the Reservoir Center to define the role of a water utility. The responses highlight a spectrum of public understanding, ranging from basic service expectations to a deeper grasp of the water cycle: 🏗️…
Can Innovation Save the Chesapeake’s Sinking Islands? Smith Island and Tangier Island are more than just landmarks; they are the front lines of the climate crisis in the Chesapeake Bay. As sea levels rise, these historic crabbing and fishing communities face an existential threat that jeopardizes both their cultural heritage…
The passing of the 2025 deadline for the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint has shifted the conversation from hitting a date to ensuring long-term accountability. While the missed target highlights the immense challenge of restoring the watershed, the Blueprint’s unique two-year milestones continue to serve as a critical regulatory engine.…
Oyster restoration has emerged as the defining success story for the Chesapeake Bay over the last decade. Since 2014, a collaborative effort between Maryland, Virginia, and federal agencies like NOAA has resulted in the restoration of 11 tributaries—surpassing an ambitious goal that many experts originally deemed unreachable. By reviving these…
The Chesapeake Bay is cleaner today than it was decades ago, but the journey to full restoration remains unfinished. Much of the progress achieved to date is the direct result of a sustained community effort and massive historical investments in wastewater treatment infrastructure While these successes have shifted the trajectory…
Is the Chesapeake Bay finally turning a corner, or is restoration falling behind on its most critical deadlines? This episode provides an expert "check-up" on America’s largest estuary with Hilary Falk, President and CEO of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). After decades of investment, the results are a complex mix…
The Venice Canals of Los Angeles were built in 1905 as a bold real estate experiment inspired by Venice, Italy. These canals once connected directly to the Pacific Ocean and served as transportation corridors for a growing seaside community. As the city evolved, water quality issues, flooding, and the rise…
What is something we should rethink about water? How much convincing it should take to invest in it. Water is the only commodity every single person on Earth needs, every single day—and its price is only moving in one direction: up. When you strip it down to the fundamentals, that…
Water utilities don’t need Hollywood budgets to tell compelling stories — they just need to hit “record.” As short-form video reshapes how people consume information, water agencies have a powerful opportunity to connect with their communities in more human, authentic ways. At Catalyst 2025, Katrina Lumague and Stephanie Fu of…
Industrial growth doesn’t always need drinking water quality supply — and this project proves why that distinction matters. At a Koch ammonia plant in Enid, Oklahoma, reclaimed municipal water is being treated to a fit-for-purpose standard that works for industrial processing without competing with community needs. By using reclaimed water…
Behind the scenes of our cities, water professionals are solving high-stakes problems every day—and at WEFTEC’s Operations Challenge, they put those skills to the ultimate test. Often called the Super Bowl of Sewage, this high-energy competition brings together utility teams from across North America to tackle real-world scenarios drawn straight…
Public-private partnerships are emerging as one of the most effective ways to expand water reuse without burdening local communities — and a project in California’s East Bay shows how it can work. By investing $55 million in recycled water infrastructure, Chevron was able to meet its operational needs while avoiding…
What if saving water at an industrial scale didn’t mean sacrificing growth — but actually made it possible? In Arizona, Intel’s water reuse system is proving just how far existing technology can go. By rethinking how water is treated and reused on site, the company is recovering 98% of its…
A proposed 30% federal tax incentive could dramatically accelerate water reuse across the U.S. As industrial water demand rises and communities face growing water stress, this policy proposal aims to lower the financial barrier for businesses to invest in advanced water reuse systems. By pairing proven technologies with a strong…
Climate action sometimes starts in your own neighborhood. In a virtual course co-taught by Kari Fulton and Janelle Burr at Howard University, high school students at Title I schools across the country—from Flint to Los Angeles—are digging into what environmental justice means where they live. Using mapping tools, students are…
What is water made of? We took that question to the street. For this episode of Water Street Questions, we asked a simple one outside the Reservoir Center: What is water made of? After a few laughs, a little hesitation, and one very confident (but incorrect) “phosphate,” the answers rolled…
Explosive growth in data centers, semiconductors, and power generation is driving unprecedented industrial water demand, pushing reuse from niche to necessity across the U.S. In this episode, Bruno Pigott of the WateReuse Association, Courtney Tripp of Grundfos, and Jim Oliver of Black & Veatch unpack their joint report, Accelerating Industrial…
Across Maryland’s Eastern Shore, more than 550 concentrated animal feeding operations produce over 300 million chickens each year—and with them, massive waste streams. According to modeling, these facilities emit 30 to 40 million pounds of ammonia annually, much of it vented into the air, where it later settles into rivers…
Across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, agriculture plays a critical role in both food production and water quality. When manure and fertilizer are carefully managed, they support healthy soils and crops. But when they’re oversupplied—or when permits and oversight fall short—excess nutrients can move off fields and into nearby streams, making…
The warning signs didn’t come from inside the plant—they came from the water itself. Routine monitoring by Blue Water Baltimore detected high bacteria levels outside the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant, signaling that something was going wrong deep inside the system, says Alice Volpitta, Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper. It turns out there…
Beneath city streets and behind concrete walls, some of the Chesapeake Bay’s most important environmental work happens every day. Wastewater treatment plants across the region discharge into rivers that flow to the Bay—carrying nitrogen and phosphorus that, if not properly treated, can quickly undo decades of restoration progress. The good…
Muddy runoff construction from a single subdivision smothered one of the Chesapeake Bay’s vital nurseries—turning crystal-clear waters into a hazy graveyard for underwater grasses that shelter crabs and fish. Over the past four years, more than 200 failed state inspections at Ridgely’s Reserve have allowed relentless sediment to cloud the…
Rain doesn’t always look like pollution—but with every storm comes a hidden threat. As forests and fields are replaced by roads, rooftops, and parking lots, rainwater that once soaked into the ground now rushes across hard surfaces, carrying dirt, oil, nutrients, and other contaminants straight into local streams and rivers…
What happens when laws designed to protect water fail — and what legal action does it take to set things right? For decades, the health of the Chesapeake Bay has struggled because of three major pollution sources: stormwater, wastewater, and agriculture. These pressures send nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment into streams…