463 Mapping the Future of Water Innovation with Paul O’Callaghan
Scaling UP! H2O
“If you say something over and over often and enough, it becomes true because perception is reality.” has built a career at the intersection of water science, wastewater realities, and the practical question every operator and executive eventually faces; what actually moves innovation from idea to adoption. As Founder and CEO of, Paul explains how his team helps decision-makers put capital to work more efficiently in water by reducing uncertainty and separating signal from noise. He describes patterns he’s watched repeat across water entrepreneurs, pilots, and...
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462 From Lab Chemist to Field Mentor: Water, Culture, and Representation
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial water work rewards people who can move between precision and practicality. brings both. She started as a lab chemist, then transitioned into field service with , where much of her work supports healthcare facilities and high-accountability programs. Lab habits that protect your tools and your data Katie describes the first surprise of field work: a central plant is “very dirty,” and the job demands good technique without chasing lab-level perfection. She shares a couple of simple practices that prevent expensive problems. Use proper lab wipes on...
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461 Corrosion, Lead, and Algae: New Tools for Old Water Problems
Scaling UP! H2O
Corrosion rarely announces itself as a “big water problem.” It shows up as leaching at the tap, residual loss in the field, premature equipment replacement, and the slow, expensive erosion of decision-quality. (CEO) and (chemist/Chief Science Officer) of lay out a system-wide view of corrosion control—starting with what changed in Flint from a technical standpoint and moving into why many utilities still struggle to meet expectations when standards and risk assumptions shift. System-wide corrosion control starts with chemistry...
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460 Building Boiler Talent: Fundamentals, Online Training, and Better Partnerships with Eric Johnson
Scaling UP! H2O
Boilers can feel intimidating the first time you step into a boiler room—the heat, the noise, the pressure gauge, and the weight of knowing that mistakes can be costly. Trace Blackmore opens with a reminder that boilers deserve respect, not fear—and that learning fundamentals is how you replace mystique with clarity. The talent gap behind the boiler room door , Founder and CEO of , explains why boiler expertise is becoming harder to replace. He points to the shrinking pipeline of boiler-trained technicians—historically strengthened by Navy steam...
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459 From Wastewater to Resource: Water Reuse with Dr. Veronika Zhiteneva
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial water professionals are increasingly pulled into conversations about scarcity, resilience, and “where the next gallon comes from.” , CEO and Co-founder of frames water reuse as an implementation challenge more than a technology gap—and explains where the practical starting points are when the scope feels overwhelming. Moving reuse forward when the technology already exists Waterloop Solutions was founded to accelerate implementation: clarifying end-use quality, identifying post-treatment needs on the back end of...
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458 Hiring Olympics and High-Performance Culture with J.D. Roth
Scaling UP! H2O
"Stay curious. And you only have one reputation. Guard it with your life." Hiring for judgment, not just rehearsed confidence Industrial water treatment is full of decisions made with incomplete data—on sites, with customers, and inside the business. (Managing Director and Co-owner of ) builds his hiring around that reality. His aim is straightforward: protect the team and the culture by selecting people who can think, collaborate, and lead under pressure. JD frames the organization as a group of people choosing to work toward a common goal: building a better future for...
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457 2026: A New Year with New Intentions
Scaling UP! H2O
Trace Blackmore opens 2026 with a practical reset: how to plan with urgency, sharpen the fundamentals that make troubleshooting easier, and use the tools around this podcast to keep your development moving all year. The 12-Week Year: urgency you can use Annual goals often feel “far away” until December forces focus. The 12-week year flips that dynamic by treating each quarter like a year—creating urgency sooner and giving you four chances to reset and improve. Trace walks through the structure: start with a vision (he uses a three-year example), then choose 3–5 tactical...
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456 The 12 Days of Scaling UP! H2O 2025
Scaling UP! H2O
A year-end recap is more than a highlight reel—it’s a practical reset. In this New Year episode, Trace Blackmore walks through 2025 using a “12 Days of the Scaling Up Nation” format, tying together performance, community growth, listener engagement, and the sponsor support that keeps the podcast and its companion tools available at no cost. Year-end by the numbers Trace explains how he used to track every stat closely—and how that shifted into an unhealthy measure of self-worth—so the team now uses numbers as feedback, not validation. He notes the...
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455 Mentors, Mindset, and the CWT: Owning Your Water Career with Nella Fergusson
Scaling UP! H2O
“So one thing I never do is try to start giving remediation or advice before I truly have understood and diagnosed the problem.” Mentorship and certifications don’t replace experience—but they can accelerate it when paired with the right mindset and a disciplined approach to learning. (District Manager, Southern California, ), lays out what “growing up” in industrial water treatment actually looks like: repeated exposure to real problems, strong diagnostic habits, and a willingness to keep learning long after year one. Learning that keeps...
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454 Water Recycling, Innovation, and Industry Wisdom with Dr. Kelle Zeiher
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial cooling is one of the biggest levers industrial facilities can pull on water use—and it’s getting harder to ignore as data centers and other high-heat operations grow. Returning guest (Project Manager at ) breaks down what water reuse looks like when you move past slogans and into the realities of pretreatment, concentrate management, footprint, and cost. Cooling water reuse: the scale of the opportunity Dr. Zeiher reframes “drought” beyond rainfall, emphasizing aquifer recharge and the limits of focusing only on household restrictions. She...
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Wastewater isn’t an endpoint—it’s a decision point. On Wastewater Thursday, host Trace Blackmore, CWT sharpens the operator’s toolkit with field-tested lessons: dose by mechanism, verify by sampling discipline, and use wastewater’s fast feedback to protect quality, cost, and permits.
Sampling discipline protects credibility
Trace recounts an early-career moment when an inspector sampled the wrong location, triggering alarms. Immediate, methodical resampling—guided by logs and a clear process map—proved the system was in spec. The leadership takeaway: embed verification before escalation. Clear sampling points, time-stamped logs, and a rapid “reproduce the reading” drill turn uncertainty into clarity.
Mechanism over myth: coagulant control
In a new Detective H2O case, James McDonald explains why overfeeding coagulant collapses floc. When particles swing past neutral, like charges repel again and settling stalls. The fix is not “more chemistry,” but right-sizing dose to production and confirming with jar tests at the correct take-off point.
From discharge to resource
Greetings from past guests reinforce the shift under way. Arnaud Valleteau de Moulliac (Veolia Water Technology) frames wastewater as a local, decarbonized resource—with energy-positive plants and reuse as standard practice. Steve Russell (Kiewit) notes supply pressure will push even deeper recycling. Mark Lewis, CWT (Southeastern Laboratories) underscores wastewater’s advantage: “If you treat it, you see it.”
Make wastewater a reliable, fast-feedback control loop—rooted in charge balance, sampling rigor, and reuse thinking.
Listen to the full conversation above. Explore related episodes below. Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!
Timestamps:
02:17 — Welcome to Wastewater Thursday and the IWW25 theme: “From foundations to futures.”
03:03 — Why wastewater is “the restart”: cleaning for reuse and sustainability.
04:24 — “Every drop counts from influent to effluent” — defining the professional mandate.
05:12 — Field story setup: jar testing with Trace’s father; early lessons.
06:05 — Crisis call: bad regulatory number traced to wrong sampling location.
08:54 — Guest greeting: Arnaud Valleteau de Moulliac (Veolia) on energy-positive, reuse-driven futures.
10:25 — Guest greeting: Steve Russell (Kiewit) on permits, mass balances, and supply-driven recycling.
12:09 — Guest greeting: Mark Lewis, CWT (Southeastern Laboratories) on jar tests and product selection.
14:40 — Detective H2O: The case of too much of a good thing
20:17 — Mechanism lesson: charge neutralization window; like-charge repulsion returns when overdosed.
21:36 — Action: reduce dose; account for residence time; restore performance.
24:29 — IWW25 community prompt: post a safety-approved photo with wastewater equipment; use tags.
Connect with Mark Lewis
Phone: 704.322.5406
Email: MLewis@SELaboratories.com
Website: https://www.selaboratories.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mark-lewis-01a3b56
Connect with Steve Russell
Phone: 913.689.4533
Email: steve.russell@kiewit.com
Website: https://www.kiewit.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-russell-2b0a7960/
Connect with Arnaud Valleteau de Moulliac
Email: arnaud.valleteau@veolia.com
Website: www.veoliawatertechnologies.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/arnaud-valleteau-de-moulliac-9b85353a/
www.linkedin.com/company/veolia-water-technologies/
Links Mentioned
AWT (Association of Water Technologies)
Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses
034 The Other One With Mark Lewis, CWT
112 The One Where Trace Is Interviewed By Mark Lewis
141 The One About Neglected Accounts
149 The One About Some of the Lesser-Used Technologies
382 Leading with Safety: How Veolia Embeds Health into Global Culture
396 Navigating Carbon Capture: Water Demands and Wastewater Solutions with Steve Russell
404 Eight Tips for Business Management: Part 1 – Essential Strategies
406 Eight Tips for Business Management: Part 2 – Essential Strategies
