Libsyn Directory

480 From Engineering Numbers to People, Power, and Policy with Sherine El‑Wattar

Release Date: 06/13/2026

503 Pinks and Blues: Beyond Industrial Water Week 2026

Scaling UP! H2O

Industrial Water Week 2026 has ended, and Trace Blackmore, CWT, challenges listeners to carry its focus on learning and mentorship into the rest of the year. This Pinks and Blues episode combines reflections on IWW26 and the AWT convention with listener questions about AI and professional development. Give continued learning a place on your calendar Trace proposes a specific challenge: choose one of Industrial Water Week’s five focus areas and schedule 30 minutes to improve your understanding. Those areas are pretreatment, boilers, cooling, wastewater, and careers. ...

502 Industrial Water Week 2026: Careers Friday

Scaling UP! H2O

Experienced water treaters carry knowledge that the next generation needs. For Careers Friday, Trace Blackmore, CWT asks them to pass it on. The Industrial Water Week 2026 finale connects industrial water treatment careers with mentorship, practical training, and curiosity. Pass on the reasoning behind the work Trace describes a mentor as someone you can call when a system presents a problem you cannot explain. Learning from another professional’s challenges, mistakes, and experience helped him solve problems and later mentor others. He also addresses professionals preparing to retire....

501 Industrial Water Week 2026: Wastewater Thursday

Scaling UP! H2O

A wastewater inspection appeared to expose a failed treatment program—until Trace checked where the sample had been collected. For Industrial Water Week 2026: Wastewater Thursday, Trace Blackmore, CWT, connects correct sampling, water reuse, and careful troubleshooting with the decisions water treaters make every day. Check the sample location before drawing conclusions In an early-career account, a plant operator faced a threatened shutdown after an inspector’s sample produced out-of-spec results. Trace reviewed logs, spoke with the engineer, and tested two locations. The...

500 Industrial Water Week 2026: Cooling Wednesday

Scaling UP! H2O

Cooling Wednesday brings a practical reminder: correcting a treatment problem requires understanding what caused it. For Industrial Water Week 2026, Trace Blackmore, CWT, celebrates Episode 500 with lessons on cooling tower foam, biocide feed verification, Legionella risk, and unexplained chilled water loss. Start with the feed history When a cooling tower produces enough foam to spread across the property and trigger low water shutdowns, Trace begins with the biocide feed logs. He compares the chemical remaining in the tank with calculated consumption and finds evidence of...

499 Industrial Water Week 2026: Boiler Tuesday

Scaling UP! H2O

Boiler Tuesday is a reminder that industrial water treatment exists to protect heat transfer efficiency. For day two of Industrial Water Week 2026, Trace Blackmore, CWT, connects feedwater preparation, condensate quality, and treatment distribution to the everyday decisions that keep steam systems working. Feedwater quality sets the stage Trace starts with a practical measure of boiler performance: how much heat from the flame reaches the steam? Feedwater conditions directly affect that work. He links inadequate feedwater heating with higher chemical demand,...

498 Industrial Water Week 2026: Pretreatment Monday

Scaling UP! H2O

is here—and Day 1 is Pretreatment Monday. In Episode 498, Trace Blackmore, CWT, opens the 2026 celebration with troubleshooting stories, returning guest greetings, and a new Detective H2O case that brings pretreatment performance into focus. Celebrate with purpose Take a photo with your favorite pretreatment equipment—a softener, RO, or filter housing—and post it with #IWW26. Then search the hashtag to connect with others doing the same work. Trace’s invitation makes the week visible and recognizes the people who keep downstream systems operating. Start with the pretreatment train At...

497 Pinks & Blues: From Sample to Solution

Scaling UP! H2O

A controller and a handheld meter give you different readings. Before you adjust blowdown or chemical feed, how do you determine which result deserves your confidence? Reliable water treatment testing starts with understanding the sample, the system, and the equipment behind the number. In Episode 497, “Pinks and Blues: From Sample to Solution,” Trace Blackmore, CWT, answers listener questions that build on Episodes 397 and 408. He connects testing with repeatable procedures so technicians can interpret results, make informed adjustments, and explain their decisions to...

496 Growing Through Change in Water Treatment with Mark Lewis, Part 2

Scaling UP! H2O

When a water treater can run a test but cannot yet diagnose a failing system, the next training decision matters. In Growing Through Change with Mark Lewis, Part 2, Mark Lewis of CRB Water joins Trace Blackmore, CWT, to connect training choices with work in the field. Match Training to Experience Mark sees the space between AWT’s March and November training sessions as a chance to revise material instead of repeating the same presentation. He explains how Fundamentals and Applications, Program Designs and Operations, and Technical Training serve different levels of readiness....

495 Growing Through Change in Water Treatment with Mark Lewis, Part 1

Scaling UP! H2O

Change is unavoidable, but uncertainty does not have to control how water treatment professionals respond to it. Mark Lewis returns to share what he learned when Southeastern Laboratories was acquired by CRB Water—and how employees can remain valuable, informed, and open to opportunity during a business transition. Navigating an Acquisition from the Employee’s Perspective Southeastern Laboratories began exploring a buyer because its owners wanted to protect the company and approximately 30 employees. When CRB Water entered the picture, employees naturally wondered what...

494 Preparing for AWT 2026: Leadership, Change, and CWT Growth with Matt Coffindaffer, Part 2

Scaling UP! H2O

A strong convention outcome starts before the first session and continues long after the exhibit hall closes. Association of Water Technologies Executive Director Matt Coffindaffer explains how deliberate preparation, wider professional relationships, and volunteer service can turn AWT 2026 into practical value for an industrial water treatment career or business. Find the Right Place to Volunteer AWT offers yearlong committee service, shorter task-force assignments, and opportunities across technical research, marketing, membership, regulatory affairs, business resources, young...

More Episodes

Industrial water professionals work with chemistry, equipment, permits, and performance targets every day. Yet every gallon also moves through a framework of policy decisions: who can withdraw water, how it may be used, what quality must be returned, and whose needs are considered when systems are designed.

Sherine El-Wattar, a science network officer supporting the IPCC Working Group II Technical Support Unit, brings an engineering foundation and a human-centered perspective to those questions. Her work focuses on climate impacts, adaptation, vulnerability, and risk while helping connect scientific assessments with communities and professional groups beyond the traditional research environment.

Water Systems Are Never Neutral

Pipelines, treatment plants, reuse programs, and flood-control infrastructure solve technical problems. However, Sherine encourages engineers and decision-makers to ask additional questions: Who benefits from the system? Who might be harmed? Whose assumptions are built into the equations? What local realities might the numbers overlook?

Her master’s research illustrates the importance of that lens. Sherine compared remote-sensing indicators of agricultural productivity with the day-to-day practices of farmers near Cairo. A digital map could classify land as productive or unproductive, but the view from the ground revealed practices shaped by long-term care for the soil and water. The lesson is not to dismiss data. It is to understand what the data may not capture.

Water Risk Depends on Context

Water scarcity, flooding, infrastructure resilience, and climate adaptation do not look the same in every region. Culture, institutions, belief systems, and lived experience shape how communities define risk and how they respond to water policy.

Sherine describes climate-related water risk through a straightforward frame: too much water or too little water. The solutions, however, require deeper attention to local conditions. A technically sound recommendation may still fall short if it overlooks the people affected by the decision.

Practical Steps for Water Professionals

For utilities, facilities, and water-sector businesses, Sherine recommends exploring water footprint concepts and water stewardship. She also emphasizes authentic connection: listen before trying to fix a problem, communicate without judgment, and build awareness through relationships.

Industrial water treaters already hold valuable knowledge. Sharing that expertise with operators, communities, policymakers, and professionals from other disciplines can improve the quality of future water decisions.

Listen to the full conversation above. Explore related episodes below. Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!

Timestamps

02:10 — Trace explains why water and policy are inseparable, even when daily work appears focused on equipment, chemistry, permits, and profitability.

05:10 — Upcoming industry events highlight opportunities to stay current on utility operations, infrastructure, compliance, data integration, and water-quality challenges.

08:50 — Sherine El-Wattar joins the conversation and clarifies the IPCC acronym before introducing her work in water governance and climate adaptation.

11:30 — Sherine reflects on the value of combining engineering problem-solving with water systems that serve society.

12:00 — Sherine describes her role supporting IPCC Working Group II and the two responsibilities she balances: science and networking.

14:10 — The discussion explores how expert reviewers can contribute perspectives from law, finance, health, youth organizations, Indigenous communities, and other fields.

15:30 — Sherine explains why communication must shift depending on whether the audience includes public communities or government representatives.

17:10 — Water is compared to language: local culture, institutions, and belief systems influence how risk and equity are understood.

19:50 — Sherine unpacks water as a story of people, power, and justice rather than only a network of pipes and treatment systems.

22:00 — A human-centric approach asks who benefits, who may be harmed, whose knowledge informs the system, and what the assumptions may cost.

24:40 — Sherine describes the Netherlands’ Delta Works as an example of infrastructure shaped by risk, institutional capacity, and long-term water management.

27:10 — Sherine shares how her master’s studies shifted her understanding of water from a technical discipline toward the science-policy interface.

29:40 — Her research compares remote-sensing indicators with farmers’ lived practices near Cairo, revealing the limits of relying on aggregated data alone.

33:30 — Trace and Sherine explore how professionals can respect culture and tradition while still supporting education and improvement.

35:50 — Sherine recommends water footprint concepts and water stewardship as practical starting points for organizations planning for climate adaptation.

38:20 — The conversation examines the mismatch between climate risk and the depth of current responses to too much or too little water.

41:50 — Sherine encourages professionals to connect water awareness with personal reflection, professional networks, and conversations that influence behavior

Connect with Sherine El-Wattar

Phone: +31646914589

Email: [email protected]

Website: IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ipcc/

LinkedIn: Sherine El-Wattar | LinkedIn

Quotes

“And I really liked how, you know, engineering is all about the numbers, solving problems, and finding a way to create a system that serves society.”

“I have been humbled enough to know you cannot force policymakers to think anything.”

“For us to balance these things, it's about, it starts with understanding.”

“I really hope I would live to see the day where taking care of water or being water conscious is the new trend.”

Guest Resources Mentioned