Water utility chiefs on budgets, biosolids and building teams.
Aquasite founder and CEO Mahesh Lunani interviews one utility leader at a time, from the head of a Long Island water authority serving over 1.2 million residents to the general manager of a member-owned cooperative in Ohio. The talk stays practical: capital priorities, growth fees, biosolids reuse, PFAS and what keeps staff engaged.
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21st Century Water is a conversation series about running water and wastewater utilities, told by the people who run them. After a fixed introduction, recent episodes begin with host Mahesh Lunani's all-hours greeting, 'good morning, good afternoon, good evening,' before he introduces a single guest and the system they lead. Lunani is the founder and CEO of Aquasite. His guests are the ones in charge. Jeffrey Szabo, CEO of the Suffolk County Water Authority, runs an authority serving over 1.2 million residents on Long Island and says he is proud to be an administrator rather than a technical person. His take on decision-making is candid: most calls land as doubles or triples rather than home runs, and being wrong is fine as long as the lesson is learned. The executive director of the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority in Wilmington, North Carolina, explains how a capital program that Lunani puts at $600 million across 100 projects gets ranked, using a risk-consequence matrix and a business case analysis for each project. The diagnosis is blunt. By the executive director's account, almost every utility in the nation is in an infrastructure deficit after 20 or 30 years of underinvestment. PFAS comes up in the same conversation. Business models get their turn too. The general manager and CEO of Del-Co Water, a fast-growing member-owned utility in the Columbus, Ohio region, explains charging system development and tap-in fees up front so existing members are not subsidizing new development, and makes the case for fewer, better-run utilities. Matt Stouder, executive officer of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission, describes biosolids going to ryegrass farmers under a cooperative agreement and to a poplar farm whose harvest becomes lumber, paper products and chips for local businesses. Lunani's follow-up goes straight to the money. The wood does sell, Stouder answers, but it does not pay for itself yet. Staff culture is the other thread. Pieter Van Ry, director of what is introduced as Colorado's third-largest wastewater treatment facility, links employee engagement to an organization's economic output, citing research from his MBA and Gallup's work on engagement, and boils it down to happy people working harder. Heather Collins, president of the American Water Works Association, talks about public trust in water, the mentors who empowered her as a student, and the need for water to collaborate with other sectors, pointing to data center growth and scarcity; she wants to help others find water the way, in her words, water found her. Lunani stays collegial throughout, restating each guest's approach in his own terms and closing by saying how much he learned. More than one guest thanks him for the chance to tell their story. A good first listen is 'Turning Contamination into Innovation: The Cape Fear Story', for its hard numbers and its method for ranking projects.
Made for: Suits a listener who works in or around water and wastewater utilities, from operators to board members, and wants peers' own accounts of capital planning, rate design and staff culture. It also fits anyone curious about how local water service gets funded and managed.
What sets it apart: The guests are executives running specific systems, such as a Long Island water authority, a North Carolina utility authority and a member-owned Ohio cooperative, so the talk stays on concrete decisions: how projects get ranked, who pays for growth, where biosolids go. Lunani's follow-ups go after method and money rather than headlines.
The 21st Century Water is a free knowledge sharing podcast series featuring insightful discussions and solutions on the most pressing issues facing America’s 50,000+ utilities. The monthly podcast will feature water leaders who are working to meet both existing and emerging challenges and dive deep into novel solutions and new models that are producing tangible results. The goal of this podcast is to increase the likelihood that success stories can be replicated by leaders, operators and executives across the country. The podcast is also designed to motivate and create a vibrant 21st century water systems and the innovative workforce required to lead and operate them.
A wastewater utility sells poplar lumber; Mahesh Lunani asks the question you'd ask: does it pay?
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at how leadership and workplace culture shape a water authority serving more than 1.2 million residents.
Jeff Sabo's discussion of the Suffolk County Water Authority frames public infrastructure as a leadership job as much as an operational one. The authority serves more than 1.2 million residents on Long Island, covers an 86-mile service territory, manages 6,000 miles of water…
Peter Van Rye connects better water utility leadership to trust, delegation, accountability, and healthier workplace culture.
Public water infrastructure depends on the people who are asked to keep it working, and this episode frames that responsibility through Peter Van Rye's roles at South Planet Renew and the City of Englewood's drinking water utility.
A utility leader explains how public agencies prioritize risk, fund renewal, and support the workforce behind safer water systems.
Cape Fear Public Utility Authority in Wilmington, North Carolina, comes through as a practical case study in how a public utility faces PFAS, aging infrastructure, and the cost of long-term renewal.
A grounded conversation about public trust, future water workers, and the industries that depend on water.
Water infrastructure is treated here as a public obligation, not just a utility function. Heather Collins, president of the American Water Works Association and a leader in water treatment operations at Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, brings the subject back…
A practical review of how Delco Water uses cooperative ownership to manage growth, infrastructure, and water quality.
Cooperative ownership gives this episode a clear, practical frame for looking at water utility growth. In the conversation with Glenn Marsloff, General Manager and CEO of Delco Water, the member-owned utility comes across as an organization trying to make expansion pay its own…
David French and Sarah Isgur break down Supreme Court arguments and rulings twice a week.
David Roberts interviews energy and policy experts on grids, solar, geothermal, and climate law.
21st Century Water features Mahesh Lunani interviewing Jeffrey Szabo, CEO of Suffolk County Water Authority and president of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, about leading a system serving more than 1.2 million Long Island residents.
Peter Van Rye says Englewood's water utility had to be rebuilt from the edge of collapse, including backwashes done with stopwatches and filter parts sourced on eBay.
Cape Fear Public Utility Authority spent $43 million on a granular activated carbon plant after 2017 research found PFAS in the Cape Fear River.
["Heather Collins says water found her after aerospace internships fell through, and that path now leads to AWWA and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.", "She describes Metropolitan's job as serving 19 million people across six Southern California counties through the Colorado River Aqueduct, Northern California supplies, 26 direct agencies, and 300 retailers.", "Her AWWA priorities are public trust, next-generation workforce development, and cross-sector collaboration with tech, agriculture, medical, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing leaders.", "She also points to MTBE, perchlorate, advanced oxidation, membranes, and AI as examples of how water leadership now depends on science, planning, and human storytelling."]
Mahesh Lunani of 21st Century Water interviews Delco Water CEO Glenn Marsloff about how a member-owned utility serves eight counties across about 830 square miles in central Ohio.
On 21st Century Water, Mahesh Lunani interviews Matt Staudter, executive officer of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission, about operating a regional wastewater system serving roughly 275,000 people in Oregon's Eugene-Springfield area.
On 21st Century Water, Mahesh Lunani interviews Eric Johnson, executive director of Fox River Water Reclamation District, about managing three wastewater plants serving roughly 200,000 residents in Illinois.
Mahesh Lunani interviews Andrea Cole, General Manager of Dominion Water and Sanitation District, about Sterling Ranch's renewable-water model in Douglas County, Colorado.
John J.
Mahesh Lunani interviews Matthew Wirth, Deputy Director and Chief Engineer at Fort Wayne City Utilities, about water infrastructure, technology, and sustainability in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
An interview with a water commissioner discussing her career and the future of water systems.
Host Mahesh Lunani interviews water utility leaders about their career highlights and challenges in managing water infrastructure.
A podcast discussing challenges and solutions for America's water infrastructure, featuring an interview with David LaFrance of AWWA.
An interview with New York City's deputy commissioner about her career move and water utility challenges.