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.
Would you like to win $7M? Build a better floating wind turbine! Researchers built the first 'zero-emission' hydrogen-powered house. Bill Gates and Samsung want to turn your poop into ashes. Water.org scales from $100M to $1B in four years. 3.6M children at risk of dropping out because of drought in Africa. California is also struggling with drought as a rancher's rebellion strikes. The US lead industry knowingly created a water crisis. Ariel Garten is this week's highlighted WELL member.
Your weekly Bonus - Diamond 410 miles deep reveals a water-rich environment.
This week's water quote:
Be like water making its way through cracks. Adjust to the object in your path and you shall find a way to flow around or through it
Tech & Innovation
Build a Better Floating Wind Turbine and Win $7 Million from the Department of Energy
The contest offers a combination of $5.75 million in prizes plus up to $1.1 million worth of assistance from Energy Department laboratories. The goal is to encourage businesses and inventors to design mass-produced platforms called “floaters.”
Researchers claim to have built Europe's first 'zero-emission' house powered by hydrogen
The hydrogen-powered fuel cells generate the electricity and heating required to meet the building's needs.
Bill Gates' and Samsung's prototype toilet can turn your poop into ashes
“There are 4.5 billion people in the world without access to adequate sanitation systems,” said in a 2018 statement Doulaye Koné, deputy director of water, sanitation and health at the Gates Foundation. “We need new science and new engineering to solve the problem.”
Corporate & Deals
Water is now seen as a precious, vital and scarce resource in the global energy sector
The link between energy production and water is of crucial importance and we need to value the latter resource far more going forward, according to the CEO of a leading gas infrastructure firm.
Water.org Announces $1 Billion in Capital Mobilized for Water and Sanitation Solutions for Families in Poverty
Water.org Scales from $100M to $1B in Four Years.
Calif. American Water acquires Warring Water Services
The California Public Utilities Commission recently approved the sale, and the transaction was completed on Sept. 16. With the acquisition, California American Water’s Ventura County District will now serve an additional 634 homes that had been served by Warring Water Services.
Water & the Environment
Nord Stream gas leaks may be biggest ever, with warning of ‘large climate risk’
Scientists fear methane erupting from the burst Nord Stream pipelines into the Baltic Sea could be one of the worst natural gas leaks ever and pose significant climate risks.
Horn of Africa drought puts 3.6m children at risk of dropping out of school
Experts warn that girls’ education will be worst hit, as many families are forced to move away from schools.
Ranchers’ rebellion: the Californians breaking water rules in a punishing drought
Before Rick Lemos and the other directors of the Shasta River Water Association broke the law, they made a decision that under most circumstances might be considered unusual: they sent a letter to authorities spelling out exactly what they intended to do.
California’s Water Emergency: Satisfying The Thirst Of Almonds While The Wells Of The People That Harvest Them Run Dry
Broiling heat in the middle of the worst drought in 1,200 years has strained the state’s underground water supply, pitting the Central Valley’s $20 billion agriculture industry against many of its own workers.
PFAS & Chemicals
Profiting from poison: how the US lead industry knowingly created a water crisis
The lead water crisis facing Chicago and many other US cities today has roots in a nearly century-old campaign to boost the lead industry’s sales.
Pollution Storm Made Worse By Storms
As Florida braces for Hurricane Ian, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the storm’s way. The storm has already knocked out electricity to the entire island of Cuba, causing major flooding, damage to homes and countless toppled trees.
Ariel Garten is a neuroscientist, innovator, and entrepreneur whose driving purpose is to empower and help others overcome mental obstacles in order to live healthy, happy lives and reach their maximum potential. Garten is one of the Founders of InteraXon, the makers of Muse: the brain sensing headband. Muse is the award-winning wearable technology that assists and trains meditation and mindfulness.
Before founding InteraXon, Ariel was not only trained as a neuroscientist and psychotherapist, but also started her own international clothing line while she worked in labs researching Parkinson’s disease and hippocampal neurogenesis. Her creativity and entrepreneurial drive, combined with her fascination with the brain, lead her to bring together two like minded friends and together they founded InteraXon, a Silicon Valley backed startup that allowed people to control computers with their minds, the technology that sparked the creation of Muse. Ariel and her team have been featured in over 1000 media pieces, including CNN, Forbes, Fortune, WSJ, etc. and recipients of multiple innovation awards.
Thank you Ariel for empowering people through mental obstacles and for sharing your expertise and passion with WIA and the WELL community.
Water & Earth
Diamond From 660 Kilometers Below Earth's Surface Reveals a Water-Rich Environment
It's riddled with flaws containing traces of ringwoodite, ferropericlase, enstatite, and other minerals that suggest the diamond formed 660 kilometers (410 miles) below Earth's surface.
