A download from Davos reveals how water is rising on the global agenda — with business leaders, governments, and NGOs increasingly recognizing it as a critical climate and economic risk.

In this episode, Jason Morrison, president of the Pacific Institute, shares insights from the World Economic Forum gathering this past January, where conversations about water resilience are reaching CEOs, prime ministers, and top decision-makers.

He explains how initiatives like the CEO Water Mandate and the Water Resilience Coalition are mobilizing major corporations to tackle water challenges collectively across stressed basins worldwide.

The discussion highlights real-world efforts underway in places like California and the Mississippi River basin, where companies are investing in projects such as groundwater recharge, watershed restoration, and improved water efficiency.

Morrison also describes how new data tools, satellite monitoring, and collaborative basin-scale strategies are helping track measurable progress.

The key takeaway from Davos: the water sector doesn’t need more pledges — it needs execution, scaling proven solutions that can deliver meaningful impact on the ground.

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability.

The water sector is in the middle of a major transition, as decades-old challenges collide with powerful new technologies, workforce shifts, and rising public expectations.

In this episode, Ralph Exton, Executive Director of the Water Environment Federation, unpacks how a nearly century-old organization is working to steer global water strategy. He breaks down WEF’s three-pillar roadmap—building water communities, advancing workforce development, and leading circularity.

The conversation from the Reservoir Center in Washington, D.C. also dives into the water–AI nexus, from the growing pressure data centers place on stressed watersheds to the launch of a new Center of Excellence designed to cut through misinformation and align utilities, regulators, and hyperscalers.

Ralph discusses the move toward a circular water economy, including the recovery of resources from wastewater. The discussion closes with a look at workforce development, from managing a wave of retirements across the industry to training the next generation.

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability.

California’s water system was built for a wetter century—and now the state is racing to turn wastewater into a reliable part of its supply portfolio. In this episode, Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, breaks down where water reuse fits in California’s long-term strategy, and what it will take to scale it safely and affordably.

The conversation spans the state’s role as both regulator and funder, including the adoption of direct potable reuse regulations, the safeguards designed to protect public health, and the need for “regulatory certainty” that helps projects move from concept to construction.

Esquivel also shares the numbers behind California’s current reuse footprint—roughly 750,000 to 800,000 acre-feet annually—and the state’s goals to expand that supply in the coming decades while balancing discharges needed for instream flows. The episode tackles the “yuck factor” head-on, explaining why monitoring, testing, and transparent communication are essential to maintaining trust as systems move toward direct connections.

And it spotlights a looming constraint few people see coming: a major wave of retirements that could reshape the water workforce just as advanced treatment becomes the new normal.

This episode is part of The Golden State of Reuse, a series exploring the past, present, and future of water recycling across California.

The series is a collaboration with WateReuse California and sponsored by CDM Smith.

The series is also supported by the Sacramento Area Sewer District, Black & Veatch, and Monterey One Water.

waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability.