What Matters Water TV + Podcast presents engaging and timely conversations about water. We’re excited to present informative, engaging and sometimes humorous stories about the one element we all need for life…water.
Join SCWC Executive Director and series host Charley Wilson as he talks to the most interesting and innovative people working in California water today.
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Podcast on LibSyn: https://whatmatterswatertvandpodcast.libsyn.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P1BARJXmHyvQZVuLLu1Oo
ListenNotes: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/what-matters-water-tv-and-podcast-charles-dyIvwPrN39m/
Episode #1 – Adel Hagekhalil
Adel Hagekhalil is the general manager of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the largest water wholesaler in the United States serving more than 19 million Californians. Tune in to hear how he thinks differently about water, the lessons he learned when things went wrong, and for fun, how his cooking style and leadership style match up. A national water and infrastructure leader, Hagekhalil joined MWD as its 14th general manager in July 2021. It is an important time as the water agency confronts challenges to water supply reliability brought by climate change impacts and drought conditions.
Episode #2 – E. Joaquin Esquivel and Karla Nemeth
Hear how the State of California is coping with the current severe drought and impacts of climate change from two of its top leaders: E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board and Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. This candid and informative conversation also includes discussion of personal leadership style, how big data is helping improve California water quality, and more.
Esquivel has regulatory responsibility for protecting the water quality, balancing competing demands on the state’s water resources, and attempts to resolve decades-long water disputes. Nemeth is responsible for managing and protecting California’s water resources, working with other agencies in order to benefit the state’s people and to protect, restore and enhance the natural and human environs. Both discuss drought resiliency, reconciling California’s water past with an inclusive future, and share personal stories about how they got their start in water policy and why they are passionate about it.
Episode #3 – Ellen Hanak, Newsha Ajami, and Faith Kearns
Join the panel discussion on water. Ellen Hanak, Newsha Ajami and Faith Kearns discuss water issues across California. In this episode of the What Matters Water TV + Podcast we talk with three women who are working for water supply resiliency for our state. We chat about what it’s like to be an advocate for water equity in California, efforts to improve affordable and reliable drinking water for all, and how to use storytelling as a tool for change! Ellen Hanak is vice president and director of the PPIC Water Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Newsha K. Ajami, Ph.D., is the director of Urban Water Policy with Stanford University’s Water in the West and NSF-ReNUWIt initiatives. Faith Kearns is a scientist and science communication practitioner. Her book Getting to the Heart of Science Communication is available wherever books are sold.
Water news in Southern California often gets overshadowed by other pressing issues such as homelessness, traffic congestion, and housing affordability stories. Water is just as important for life as housing, but very rarely do water issues rise to crisis levels in Southern California. That is a testament to the region’s decades of investment in water supply reliability. But this reliability also means that positive developments and potential solutions may be easily overlooked by people who are otherwise interested in regional issues. Southern California Water Coalition believes we can help bring these stories to life through our Water Matters Water TV and podcast.
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The Southern California Water Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public education partnership dedicated to informing Southern Californians about our water needs and the state’s water resources. We were founded in 1984.