2 - Water - Manny Teodoro

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

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

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 Victimwazn't meCongress is considering PFAS liability exemptions for water and sewer systems under CERCLA (aka Superfund),

Pondwater 💻

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

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 investment—a state

Cooper and Mondrian 💻

On the astonishing power of random samplingTwo 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 visually

Insufferable 💻

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

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 folliesGrand Rapids, Michigan began adding fluoride to its water in 1945 to help fight tooth

From Cap & Gown to Corner Office 💻

Exploring the diverse academic backgrounds of water’s top leadersSchool’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 chief executive

Report Card Roundup 💻

Early dispatches from the revolutionIt’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 school-style

Toward Excellence 💻

Report cards for 570 Wisconsin water utilitiesstrong marks for the Badger State’s capital cityBack in 2019 I did something quite foolish: thinking out loud while testifying in a public hearing. When a New Jersey

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 purrmitHooray?The US Supreme Court's handed sewer utilities a win last week in San Francisco vs.

Medium and Message by Mail🎓

A Field Experiment to Promote Low-Income Assistance ProgramsPublic Administration Review, January 2025Manuel P. TeodoroJean SmithSummaryDirect mail can reduce learning burdens associated with assistance programs, increase awareness of those programs, and lead to greater public

The Slow Flow of Progress💻

Racial diversity in water leadershipAI'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 leadership posts,

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 promote their

Profits of Distrust: The Comic 📖

Healthier water makes a healthier RepublicWhen 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 text,

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 of this blog know

Men & Women & Ramps & Ladders 💻

Gendered routes to water utilities’ top executive jobsdifferent ways to the top for boys and girlsOnce an afterthought, workforce and leadership diversity is by now a subject of major attention in the water sector.

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 plastiksMicroplastics: bottle vs. tapIn a stunning development, it turns out that water packaged, shipped, stored,

Women in Water’s Corner Offices 💻

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

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 allegoriesHigher prices don’t necessarily create affordability problems. Across the United States, water and sewer

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

Variable Flow Comes Limping After 💻

Pondwater 💻

The Water-Dogecoin Paradox 💻

Cooper and Mondrian 💻

Insufferable 💻

Variable Flow Moves the Goalposts 💻

From Cap & Gown to Corner Office 💻

Report Card Roundup 💻

Toward Excellence 💻

Variable Flow Moves Fast and Breaks Things💻

Medium and Message by Mail🎓

The Slow Flow of Progress💻

Postcard Power💻

Profits of Distrust: The Comic 📖

The Madison Declaration💻

Variable Flow Shifts the Blame 💻

Men & Women & Ramps & Ladders 💻

Variable Flow Raises the Dead 💻

Women in Water’s Corner Offices 💻

Good, Bad, and Ugly 💻

Pricing Predicament 💻

Variable Flow Rearranges the Deck Chairs 💻

Tariff Trends 💻

Jackson Action 💻

Women, SNAP, and Bottled Water 💻

Women, Wages, and Bottled Water 💻

Variable Flow is Shocked. Shocked! 💻

TAP Dance 💻

Big Pipes, Little Pipes, and Bottles 💻

Helping People Pay Their Sky-High Water Bills Is a SNAP 📰

Variable Flow Gets Clawed Back 💻

Pillars of Affordability💻

Lien On Me 💻

Lighten the Load 💻