Scaling UP! H2O

Scaling UP! H2O is a trade-community podcast for industrial water treatment professionals who want practical learning without losing the human side of the work. It is technical. It is also neighborly. Trace Blackmore anchors the show with a strong sense that water treaters are part of a shared profession, not a collection of isolated service calls. Recent episodes move through pressure pipe inspection, rehabilitation planning, biofilm control, biocides, surfactants, wastewater education, boiler associations, AWT history, and water management plans. The show is comfortable with acronyms and chemistry. It also keeps translating them back into field decisions: when to feed, when to sample, when to gather more data, when to avoid investing too early, and when infrastructure can no longer be ignored. Its best conversations make invisible systems feel concrete. A discussion of spreading cities becomes a lesson in aging water networks, developer-funded infrastructure, public reluctance to pay, and the difference between reactive repair and proactive planning. A discussion of biofilms becomes a practical exchange about compatibility, performance loss, microorganisms, cell membranes, and the feedback a system gives when a program is not working. Career development is just as central. Episodes return to certification prep, wastewater 101 and 201 training, mentoring, AWT technical training, online learning, and the tension between older gatekeeping habits and newer expectations that information should be shared. The show also has a strong association beat, especially around AWT and the American Boiler Manufacturers Association. It likes dates, events, conventions, mastermind groups, and professional pathways. The format can be sponsor-heavy at the top and bottom. That commercial texture is part of its real-world trade-show atmosphere, where suppliers, trainers, associations, and working specialists all occupy the same room. The show is not sleek or distant. It is brisk, earnest, and often repetitive in a useful way, circling important points until they feel ready to apply. Listeners get interviews, recurring educational bits, and a steady push toward peer learning. For someone outside the field, it may feel intensely specialized. For a water treater, operator, trainer, sales professional, or company leader, that specialization is the point. Scaling UP! H2O treats industrial water treatment as a demanding craft that rewards curiosity, community, and better questions.