Access to clean, affordable water is a vital precondition for public health and a thriving economy, and its absence is a serious challenge for many communities and countries around the world. Healing Waters International is one of the many organizations taking on the challenge of bringing affordable, sustainable potable water infrastructure to underdeveloped communities across the globe. In this interview, Healing Waters CEO Rob Anthony and Director of Field Operations and Lead Engineer Walter Nonemaker tell Municipal Water Leader about how they are carrying out the organization’s mission.   

Having accurate and consistent data is vital for overcoming the challenges faced by wastewater treatment plants, but most monitoring techniques are either vulnerable to fouling or slow. SENTRY’s new bioelectrode sensor avoids both problems. The product improves the monitoring of microbial balance, toxic shock events, and other factors that impede effective wastewater management. In this interview, Jonathan Grant, SENTRY’s chief commercial officer, tells Municipal Water Leader how the product was developed, the benefits it provides customers, and the effect the technology is having on wastewater management around the world.   

Bringing innovation to mature water infrastructure systems can be a significant challenge. New regulatory, environmental, and market factors all constrain the ability of water users to institute better and more effective management strategies. Syrinix is a company working to help them by providing products and technologies that can simultaneously address many different water management issues, including leak detection and pressure monitoring. In this interview, Syrinix’s chief executive, James Dunning, tells Municipal Water Leader about the company’s history and how its new products are addressing present and future water challenges.   

The North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) provides water, wastewater, and solid waste disposal services to 1.8 million people in a rapidly growing area of Texas north of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. To serve this population through the year 2040, NTMWD is building the first new major reservoir in Texas in 30 years, Bois d’Arc Lake. Jenna Covington has recently risen to head the NTMWD as its new executive director and general manager. In this interview, she tells us about progress on Bois d’Arc Lake, NTMWD’s plans to secure water supplies through 2080, and the district’s experience of the February 2021 Winter Storm Uri.   

For many people, the history of water in the West centers on early-20th-century events like the construction of Hoover Dam and the California water wars. In fact, that history goes back to the times when Native Americans were the only residents of what is now the western United States. The full scope of that history, in all its social, political, and legal detail, is at the heart of the courses Professor Matt Makley teaches at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. In this conversation, Dr. Makley tells Municipal Water Leader about this fascinating history and its continuing importance.   

Dr. Elizabeth McVicker’s Water Law course is one of the three that make up the Water Studies certificate program at the Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver). It takes a broad view of hydrology, history, and legal doctrine and gives students a fundamental understanding of water law in the West, including the prior appropriation principle. In this interview, Dr. McVicker tells us about her background and how she came to teach this class.