Water's Evolving Moment

Shortly after taking the position to lead U.S. EPA’s Office of Water in the spring of 2021, Radhika Fox sat on a panel to discuss the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card and made the claim that “This is water’s moment.” Three years later, I am reminded of that phrase as I witness the moving pieces in the industry yet again.

By the time you read this, Fox will have left EPA to work for Xylem as a senior advisor, and her second-in-command at EPA’s Office of Water, Bruno Pigott, will have taken over as acting assistant administrator (See more on page 31). I also will have already interviewed Pigott on video and shared it on our website, wwdmag.com/videos, and I also anticipate the PFAS Maximum Contaminant Levels final rule will have been released with coverage live on the website for our sibling brand, WaterWorld.

And while those are all inflection points for “water’s moment” as Fox put it, what really got me thinking about that phrase again were two educational panel sessions at South by Southwest (SXSW), one of the largest pop culture events in the nation.

The first of those sessions discussed PFAS in water with panelists from U.S. EPA and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The second also had panelists from U.S. EPA along with a local non-profit, and they discussed the matter of water equity.

We know in this industry that PFAS is a big issue that continues to grow and change as science pushes our understanding of those chemicals further and further, but to see it on stage at an event that targets the general public shows just how deep this matter has infiltrated into society. It cannot be avoided. We must be as prepared as we can be. And we must consider the equity of addressing these chemicals in water.

Water’s moment appears to be changing its shape, scope and focus to meet the evolving needs of society at large. Don’t let that discourage you from seizing the moment and showing the world why our work matters.