In this episode of Waterfall Rapids, Mike and Karen are joined by Natasha Wiseman, founder of Make Water Famous, to discuss how positive storytelling can help more people connect with water. Natasha shares the mission behind the growing platform, why people are more interested in water than many assume, and how raising awareness of water issues can inspire action, attract future talent to the sector, and support a more sustainable future. Plus, the team talk water-saving habits and the importance of celebrating the people working behind the scenes to keep our water services running.

The full length edition of this episode was originally released on 16/6/2023.

• 01:39 Introductions
• 02:21 The idea behind Make Water Famous
• 04:00 Getting more people interested in water
• 05:36 Growing a global water community
• 08:56 Natasha's water-saving habits
• 10:50 Why making water famous matters

In this episode of Waterfall, Mike and Karen chat with Andrew Tucker, Demand Reduction Manager at Thames Water, about one of the biggest hidden sources of household water waste: leaky toilets. They discuss how modern dual-flush toilets leak internally without people noticing, how a single leaky loo can double a household's daily water usage, and what smart meter data is revealing about continuous leaks across thousands of homes. Andrew also breaks down why internal mechanisms fail and how upcoming regulations, like Defra's mandatory water labeling, aim to fix the issue on a national scale.

The full length edition of this episode was originally released on 29/9/2023.

Timestamps

• 00:45 – Introductions

• 02:08 – What is a leaky loo and why modern toilets fail

• 03:49 – What smart meter data reveals about household leaks

• 05:20 – The national scale: 50 million litres lost daily

• 06:40 – Why dual-flush mechanisms fail and how to fix them

In this episode of Waterfall Rapids, Mike and Karen speak with Dr Claire Houlihan from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Professor Alison Brown from the University of Manchester about their Ofwat-funded project, Enabling Water Smart Communities. They discuss what a "water smart community" really means, how new housing developments could better manage water, the challenges of water reuse, and why understanding why people use water matters more than just measuring how much.

The full length edition of this episode was originally released on 16/8/2024.

Timestamps:

• 01:52 – What is a water smart community?
• 03:48 – Interesting findings so far
• 04:33 – The challenge of water reuse
• 05:20 – Why social science research on water matters
• 06:59 – Why understanding people matters more than numbers