2 - Water - Manny Teodoro

A Matter of Taste 💻

Strengthening trust in tap water—and in government—means taking aesthetics seriously the ultimate consumer confidence indicator (Photo by Engin Akyurt) A great irony—and in some ways, a great tragedy—of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

Safe Drinking Water Act: The Next Fifty Years 💻

A new book aims to shape the national conversation Now available from Palgrave Macmillan In December 2024, the La Follette School at UW-Madison and the Water & Health Advisory Council gathered researchers, regulators, water sector executives, and community

Safe Drinking Water Act: The Next Fifty Years 📖

Palgrave Macmillan Manuel P. Teodoro, Editor In this open access book, contributors explore current challenges and opportunities to improve drinking water regulation, governance, management, environmental justice, and more. In 2024, the United States marked

Why PFAS Policymakers Should Read Past the Abstract 📰

WATER ONLINE Manny Teodoro, Chad Seidel, and Joe Cotruvo When it comes to drinking water, sound public policy requires sound scientific research. Publication in a prestigious, peer-reviewed journal helps establish legitimacy for scientific claims

SDWA at 51: Justice and the Promise of Safe Drinking Water💻

sometimes justice demands different approaches to different contaminants On the fiftieth anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 2024, the Water & Health Advisory Council unveiled the Madison Declaration, which identifies five

Variable Flow Comes Limping After 💻

Sometimes there’s a little to say about a lot of things. Welcome back to Variable Flow. Don't Blame the Victim wazn't me Congress is considering PFAS liability exemptions for water and sewer systems under

Pondwater 💻

You shouldn’t recruit survey participants through social media—or trust studies that do Waters of the United States? Every couple of weeks a post hits my social media feeds asking me to participate in a

The Water-Dogecoin Paradox 💻

In an economy awash in capital, why does water want for investment? Cryptocurrencies turn code into gold, but water is the ultimate liquid asset. America’s water and sewer utilities need trillions of dollars of

PBS University Roundtable 🎦

Report Cards for Wisconsin’s Drinking Water Utilities Click image to watch video on YouTube - or look for it on PBS Wisconsin.

Cooper and Mondrian 💻

On the astonishing power of random sampling Two paintings of New York City. Mondrian abstracts the metropolis into a rhythmic grid of color and line; Colin Campbell Cooper’s panorama is blurry, but probably more

The Customer is Always Right 📰

Why complaints are actually good for a utility Water Environment & Technology Manuel P. Teodoro and Mark Holstad Abstract Customer complaints may feel like a burden, but they are often a powerful sign of

Insufferable 💻

Maybe engineers really are better at managing water utilities* if Hogwarts had an engineering school Does a utility leader’s education matter for the performance of his/her utility? Recently I wrote about the academic backgrounds of

Variable Flow Moves the Goalposts 💻

Sometimes there’s a little to say about a lot of things. Welcome back to Variable Flow. i can haz flouride? Fluoride follies Grand Rapids, Michigan began adding fluoride to its water in 1945 to

From Cap & Gown to Corner Office 💻

Exploring the diverse academic backgrounds of water’s top leaders School’s out for summer, so I finally have a bit more time to blog about… school.🙃 This post continues an occasional series on water utility

Report Card Roundup 💻

Early dispatches from the revolution It’s been a little over two months since the Wisconsin Waterworks Excellence Project (WWEP) released the first public report cards for 572 Badger State water utilities. The WWEP publishes

Toward Excellence 💻

Report cards for 570 Wisconsin water utilities strong marks for the Badger State’s capital city Back in 2019 I did something quite foolish: thinking out loud while testifying in a public hearing. When a

Public enterprise pricing as redistributive policy 🎓

Policy Studies Journal Manuel P. Teodoro and David Switzer Abstract This paper analyzes public enterprise pricing as a form of redistributive politics. Beyond regulation and public goods, governments provide goods and services on a

Variable Flow Moves Fast and Breaks Things💻

Sometimes there’s a little to say about a lot of things. Welcome back to Variable Flow. u needz bettur sooer purrmit Hooray? The US Supreme Court's handed sewer utilities a win last week in

Medium and Message by Mail🎓

A Field Experiment to Promote Low-Income Assistance Programs Public Administration Review, January 2025 Manuel P. TeodoroJean Smith Summary Direct mail can reduce learning burdens associated with assistance programs, increase awareness of those programs, and

The Slow Flow of Progress💻

Racial diversity in water leadership AI's idea of diverse water utility leaders. Creepy, I know. Long ignored, racial and ethnic diversity are now high priorities for the water sector.* Diversity is especially important in

Postcard Power💻

The water comms test kitchen serves up a low-tech triumph *chef's kiss* A couple years ago I had the opportunity to work with Jean Smith at the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) to

Medium and Message by Mail 🎓

A Field Experiment to Promote Low-Income Assistance Programs Public Administration Review Manuel P. Teodoro and Jean Smith ABSTRACT Limited awareness impedes take-up in low-income utility assistance programs, which often suffer from low uptake. This

Profits of Distrust: The Comic 📖

Healthier water makes a healthier Republic When writing The Profits of Distrust, Samantha Zuhlke, David Switzer and I wanted to craft a book that had the theoretical depth and empirical rigor of an academic

The Madison Declaration💻

Today the Water & Health Advisory Council (WHAC) and the La Follette School of Public Affairs hosts a symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), bringing together water sector

Variable Flow Shifts the Blame 💻

Sometimes there’s a little to say about a lot of things. Welcome back to Variable Flow. maybee you haz teh led pipez? It’s been a minute, I know. Water comms: moar science! Regular readers

Men & Women & Ramps & Ladders 💻

Gendered routes to water utilities’ top executive jobs different ways to the top for boys and girls Once an afterthought, workforce and leadership diversity is by now a subject of major attention in the

Variable Flow Raises the Dead 💻

Sometimes there’s a little to say about a lot of things. Welcome back to Variable Flow. dis water haz teh icky plastiks Microplastics: bottle vs. tap In a stunning development, it turns out that water

Women in Water’s Corner Offices 💻

Data on a thousand utilities’ CEOs tell a tale of uneven progress A decade ago, I published a national study of American water utility chief executive officers (CEOs) with data gathered in 2011. That

Good, Bad, and Ugly 💻

Affordability in America, 2023 | Part 3 (Featured image above by Bruno Guerrero.)little known fact: the Dollars Trilogy films were utility management allegories Higher prices don’t necessarily create affordability problems. Across the United States, water