The Waterly
"The Waterly" is a weekly all-things-water newsletter we share with our community covering the latest innovations and investment deal flow in the water sector and recent news on climate change and water-related crises.
The latest marine species is an AI you say? Aviation giant KLM faces legal action for greenwashing. UN asks students not to work for 'climate wreckers'. Meet the people who quit their job for the sake of climate change. 98% of the US southwest is now in drought and Californians are preparing for mandatory water restrictions. Kobe Nagar from 374Water writes about PFAS and how to solve its crisis. The EPA adds 5 new PFAS to its monitoring list. Ellisa Feinstein is this week's highlighted WELL member.
Your weekly Bonus - Not getting enough sleep? Blame it on climate change.
This week's water fact:
The average American residence uses over 100,000 gallons every year
Tech & Innovation
China’s world-first AI-powered drone carrier is being hailed as a new ‘marine species’
Last week, China launched the world's first autonomous drone carrier and it is being hailed as a new "marine species," according to a report by the South China Morning Post. The outlet quoted the state-run Science and Technology Daily.
After seeing Hawaii’s beaches littered with plastic, this islander built a company to make straws from seaweed
“Sea technology is a competitive technology to replace plastic at scale, because it’s high performing, cost competitive, scalable, and regenerative.”
A breakthrough in fiber optics turned an undersea cable into 12 seismographs
According to a paper published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Science, the cable can double as a state-of-the-art array of more than 100 sensors that detect seismic activity. In tests last November, the cable registered a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that shook northern Peru, thousands of miles away.
Corporate & Deals
Aviation giant KLM to face legal action in first major challenge to airline industry ‘greenwashing’
The case is thought to be the first corporate lawsuit about airlines and net zero — and one of the first cases about carbon offsets.
Indigenous activists among Goldman environmental prize winners
Indigenous activists and lawyers who took on transnational corporations and their own governments to force climate action are among the 2022 winners of the world’s pre-eminent environmental award.
Our Portfolio Companies
Kobe Nagar: Forever Solutions For Forever Chemicals
"We need to take advantage of the momentum and awareness that consumer advocacy groups, researchers and local leaders have created."
Water & the Environment
Do not work for ‘climate wreckers’, UN head tells graduates
The UN secretary general has told new university graduates not to take up careers with the “climate wreckers” – companies that drive the extraction of fossil fuels. He says young people should tackle climate crisis by using talent to deliver a renewable future.
They once worked for big oil’s enablers. Now they refuse to be complicit
Workers within industries that prop up fossil fuels said they could no longer ignore the climate crisis. So they quit.
California threatens ‘mandatory water restrictions’ if people don’t cut back
California could face mandatory water restrictions if residents don’t use less on their own as the drought drags on and the hotter summer months approach, the state’s governor has said.
More Than 98% Of U.S. Southwest Now In Drought
For the past few years, scientists have been frantically sounding an alarm that governments refuse to hear: the global food system is beginning to look like the global financial system in the run-up to 2008.
PFAS & Chemicals
EPA adds five PFAS chemicals to list of risk-based response levels
In a major step for PFAS regulation, the agency has added GenX chemicals, PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS to its list of regional screening and removal management levels.
PFAS remediation spending forecasted to triple by 2030
According to a new report from Bluefield Research, national spending on treatment systems for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is expected to increase over 328 percent by 2030.
Ellisa is a customer success leader at Akamai Technologies who has deep roots in water technology. She has worked in customer success roles at water companies, including Fracta, DropCountr, and WaterSmart Software. She helped launch Imagine H2O, as a volunteer, and wrote about water tech for Triple Pundit.
In addition to customer success, Ellisa worked in PR/communications, leading campaigns for dozens of companies from diverse industries, including carbon management, clean technology, enterprise tech, edtech, and market research.
Thank you Ellisa for your passion and devotion to the water industry. You are a true inspiration for WIA and its community.
Sleep & Climate Change
Global heating is cutting sleep across the world, study finds
Data shows people finding it harder to sleep, especially women and older people, with serious health impacts.
