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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453 Water Risk, Governance, and Community Engagement with Dr. Annette Davison
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial water professionals sit at the intersection of risk, regulation, and community trust. In this episode, (“the water risk doctor”) joins Trace Blackmore to show how disciplined governance, clear supply chain thinking, and community engagement can turn fragmented water systems into coherent, defensible risk management frameworks. Water risk from source to customer Annette starts with a simple question most customers never ask: “Where’s your water coming from?” She walks through a conceptual supply chain from source to end point—collection, transfer, treatment,...
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452 UV Innovation and Whole-Building Water Safety with Ron Blutrich
Scaling UP! H2O
Entamoeba histolytica nearly ended Ron Blutrich’s scientific career. Instead, it pushed him to rethink how we protect people in multi-family buildings, senior facilities, and dense urban centers from invisible microbiological risks in their drinking water. In this episode, he joins host Trace Blackmore to unpack what whole-building UV can (and can’t) do for Legionella, biofilm, and real-world water safety. When One Bad Cup of Water Redefines a Career In the middle of his PhD in molecular genetics, Ron drank from an under-sink reverse osmosis tap at an Airbnb and...
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451 Building a Culture of Innovation and Customer Service with Frank Lecrone
Scaling UP! H2O
What happens when you build a company around one niche, listen obsessively to customers, and never stop improving? In this episode, host Trace Blackmore finally sits down for a full-length conversation with , Founder, President, and CEO of . What started in a small 60' x 60' space in Hanover, Pennsylvania, with three employees, maxed-out credit cards, and endless Staples runs has grown into a 300+-person organization serving industrial water professionals around the world. Frank shares how AquaPhoenix became “the booth everyone wants to be next to” at...
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450 Wastewater Advocacy and Innovation with Robin Deal
Scaling UP! H2O
“The More You Know” - Robin Deal A million-gallon-a-day perspective, distilled into actionable steps. , AquaPure Product Manager at unpacks how seasoned pros can squeeze more performance—and less sludge—out of industrial wastewater systems without compromising compliance or plant uptime. From “clear water in a jar” to stable discharge in the field Robin details a practical jar-testing workflow: start from upstream processes, target pH using hydroxide/sulfide solubility curves, choose the right coagulant (aluminum, iron, calcium, lanthanum, or organics),...
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449 Michael Bourgeois on AWT Partnerships and Professional Growth
Scaling UP! H2O
Get stuck in – Michael Bourgeois, CWT How do standards get written in ways that working water treaters can actually meet? In this conversation, AWT Past President, current Related Trade Organization (RTO) Committee Chair, and Chemco Products Company Operations Manager, , explains how AWT’s liaisons collaborate with peer organizations, so guidance reflects field reality—operations, risk, and achievable compliance. From Field Bags to Board Rooms: Why RTOs Matter Bourgeois outlines the purpose of AWT’s RTO structure: volunteer liaisons track and influence work at groups...
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448 2025 Halloween Special
Scaling UP! H2O
Holidays don’t usually line up with release day—but this year they did. In this Halloween special, Trace uses the horror-movie trope of the “scary boiler room” to deliver practical, field-tested reminders for safer sampling, clearer thinking, and better decisions in high-heat, low-light spaces. Boiler Rooms, Myths, and Real Risks From Nightmare on Elm Street to Tower of Terror, pop culture loves dim steam, tight corridors, and clangy pipe-labyrinths. Trace contrasts that imagery with what matters to pros: light, ventilation, a stable work surface, and time for...
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447 Unlocking Team Potential with Culture Index with Randi Fargen
Scaling UP! H2O
Hiring in industrial water is slow, specialized, and expensive to get wrong. In this conversation, executive advisor explains how a two-question, 5–7 minute Culture Index survey becomes an ongoing management and coaching system—not just a hiring screen—so owners cut turnover risk, speed onboarding, and improve day-to-day communication. From “assessment fatigue” to a usable language Most teams dread long assessments. This survey takes minutes and measures four primary traits—autonomy, sociability, pace/patience, conformity—plus three...
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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 show released 56 brand-new episodes in 2025 (including the additional releases during Industrial Water Week) and explains why the data still matters: it helps confirm what the community is using, such as discussion guides and other tools, and what needs to be improved.
Most-downloaded episodes and what listeners leaned into
Trace shares the three most-downloaded episodes of 2025:
- Episode 405 — cooling water innovation using treated wastewater
- Episode 418 — maleic acid (with Mike Standish)
- Episode 424 — chlorine dioxide (the most downloaded episode of the year)
Engagement that keeps learning moving
The episode highlights growth in the Scaling Up Nation across newsletter subscriptions, discussion guide downloads, and an expanding LinkedIn community.
Recognition, partners, and momentum into 2026
Trace acknowledges milestones including AWT naming Scaling Up H2O the official podcast of the Association of Water Technologies, and he thanks the sponsors who make the podcast’s free content possible—19 sponsoring partners in 2025. The episode closes with a direct invitation for listeners to share what they want to learn next, who they want interviewed, and what stories could help the industry keep “raising the bar.”
Listen to the full conversation above. Explore related episodes below.
Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!
Timestamps
02:50 — Show open and New Year framing: a reset point for leaders and operators heading into 2026
03:10 — Why the retrospective exists: improve the next year and celebrate what the Scaling Up Nation achieved together
05:00 — The format revealed: “12 days” of highlights built from what happened in 2025
08:40 — The final 2025 “Water You Know” question: hydroxide ion formula—and the answer reveal
16:30 — The top three downloaded episodes of 2025
29:00 — Signature segments and field lessons: community participation, Detective H2O, and “quicker is not better
Quotes
“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.”
“It’s not going to take somebody’s job away because of AI, but somebody who knows AI or is familiar with AI over somebody that is not familiar with it and refuses anything with AI, that person will probably take that other person’s job.”
“Lift others as you rise.”
Connect with Scaling UP! H2O
Submit a show idea: Submit a Show Idea
LinkedIn: in/traceblackmore/
YouTube: @ScalingUpH2O
Scaling UP! H2O Resources Mentioned
AWT (Association of Water Technologies)
Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses
405 Cooling Water Innovation: Harnessing Wastewater for Sustainability
418 Maleic Acid-Based Corrosion Inhibitors: Expanding the Water Treatment Toolbox with Mike Standish
424 Chlorine Dioxide Insights with Greg Simpson
420 Tapping Into Tech: How Ben Frieders Uses AI to Elevate Water Treatment Marketing
422 Inside the Association of Water Technologies with John Caloritis
423 Pushing the Boundaries: Jacob Deak on Innovating Water Treatment Systems
446 Leveraging the Culture Index for Business Success with Danielle Scimeca and Conor Parrish
447 Unlocking Team Potential with Culture Index with Randi Fargen
179 Another One that Teaches Us to Communicate Better with Others
Water You Know with James McDonald
Question: What is the molecular formula for hydroxide ion?
2025 Events for Water Professionals
Check out our Scaling UP! H2O Events Calendar where we’ve listed every event Water Treaters should be aware of by clicking HERE.
